Harare’s water crisis - Urgent need of creating dams, 11 different chemicals needed

Harare is an urgent need to solve the city’s worsening water problems. According to the Harare City Council, it now needs 11 chemicals to treat water to satisfactory levels due to heavy pollution in its source of water, Lake Chivero.

The pollution has been made worse by artisanal miners who have invaded Kintyre Estate and heavy farming near Lake Chivero. The Harare City Council is also insisting the government of Zimbabwe speed up the construction of Kunzvi and Musami Dams. The authorities believe this could solve the worsening water situation in Harare.

“Council now requires up to 11 chemicals to treat the water to satisfactory levels and required standards of clean and safe drinking water,” Michael Chideme, municipality's communications corporate manager said. “The bill is RTGS20 million per month depending on the obtaining interbank rate... the city ends up using money for other service delivery on water chemical alone,” he added, as reported by New Zimbabwe.

On Tuesday, a special meeting was organized where the experts resolved to engage the government of Zimbabwe to help speed up dam constructions and the creation of new water sources for the troubled local authority. A report was presented by Acting Director Harare Water, Engineer Mabhena Moyo that indicates that Harare is currently servicing 52 percent of its population with tap water supplies, with the rest not receiving any water at all. “There is little production from Prince Edward Waterworks as the dams that supply the treatment works have dried up,” he added. The quality of raw water has deteriorated to an extent that the pH has averaged 9.46, which results in more losses through backwashing of filters.

According to Chideme, the water challenges that Harare is currently facing is man-made and the residents of Chitungwiza and Harare need to understand that the water pollution is done by them. “If we could use just three chemicals to treat our water, the municipality could be saving a lot of money. If we all understand this and change our behaviour, our water problems will not be as much as we are facing today,” he added.

He warned saying the residents needs to be careful and stop pouring large amounts of organic and inorganic waste down the drain like plastics, glass, bacteria-rich faeces etc. as these are polluting both surface and groundwater. On the other hand, he warned the industries to stop discharging wastewater into the natural water bodies.

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