Source: Harare drinking water condemned – DailyNews Live
Helen Kadirire 26 March 2017
HARARE – The entire Manyame River – providing water to more than 3 million
Harare residents is contaminated, a top official has warned.
Upper Manyame Sub-Catchment Council (UMSCC) compliance assistant Susan
Nyarugwe told commemorations of the UN World Water Day hosted by Wildlife
and Environment Zimbabwe (Wez) on Wednesday that Manyame – which connects
to Lake Chivero and Darwendale dams that provide water to Zimbabwe’s
capital – was impure.
“In Harare we have Lake Chivero and Darwendale dams which are highly
polluted surface water bodies,” she said.
Pollutants mainly found in the water are municipal waste and nutrients
from stream bank cultivation in urban and peri-urban areas, she said.
UMSCC research conducted on the ground water showed it was still safe but
warned that once the underground aquifers are contaminated, it will be
very difficult to reverse.
Environmental Management Agency’s education and publicity officer Liberty
Mugadza said while burst sewers were no longer a problem, it was trade
effluent from industries which posed a serious risk.
“First, we have to account for how much is getting into the water then we
regulate what is discharged. Sewer bursts are not a problem unless they
are chronic.
“The water situation in Harare is not desirable because of a lot of
factors, chief among them, waste management,” he said.
Lipian Mtandabari, Wez Mashonaland chairperson, said water is being wasted
daily through burst pipes and loose domestic taps.
“People should know the importance of saving water because we only
recently came out of a severe drought which was threatening not only the
people but also our wildlife,” he said.
Harare’s water quality has been questionable following revelations by
senior University of Zimbabwe environmental expert Christopher Magadza
that residents were drinking water contaminated with sewage.
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