via Harare losing 60% of its water — Kasukuwere – NewsDay Zimbabwe July 5, 2014 by Veneranda Langa
ENVIRONMENT, Water and Climate minister Saviour Kasukuwere on Thursday told Senate that 60% of Harare’s water is lost through leakages, while sewage inflows from Lake Chivero spilled into water catchment areas.
He said despite using several chemicals to purify the water, the leakages prevented people from accessing that water.
Kasukuwere was responding to a question by Manicaland Senator Judith Mawire who wanted to know what the ministry was doing to alleviate water problems in some cities which she said had spent almost 20 years without access to clean water resulting in people resorting to unsafe water sources.
“The main problem is that the pipes which transport this water are aged and are always breaking down and leaking, and as a result 60% of treated water from Morton Jaffray is lost in transit and 40% is the real amount of water which is accessed by people,” said Kasukuwere.
“As a result, this water cannot meet the needs of all the people as Harare needs 840-plus megalitres of water per day, but they are only able to treat 400 megalitres per day and despite this amount, 60% of the treated water is lost in transit.”
Kasukuwere said despite problems of raw sewage from Lake Chivero spilling into water sources, there was also a big problem of companies disposing raw materials and chemicals into water sources.
“As a result, in trying to purify the water we need more money and chemicals.
“At the moment, 10 chemicals are being used in order to purify the water to make it fit for human consumption and despite using all these chemicals and amounts of money that water does not get to the people. At times, there are people who need 18 cubic litres of water, but we are not able to supply that because of these problems,” he said.
Kasukuwere said in some cities like Bulawayo the water situation had improved as they were now getting supplies every day instead of three times per week.
COMMENTS
Hey Saviour, since this water fell from the sky as rain, can we consider it to be indigenous or non indigenous? Maybe this foreign water is deliberately trying to discredit ZANU by leaking from these pipes. Maybe this is a British plot hatched when they laid all these pipes before 1980.
ha ha ha ha well said John
And these ZANU idiots still insist on stuffing up our wetlands. All in the name of greed.
What does a meter reader who has not been paid for four months do when offered $20 by a defaulting consumer?Disconnect the water or “find the gate locked?”.Factor in water fitters who connect new stands.For a few dollars,they can arrange a pipe which by passes the meter.Thats the story behind the huge arrears.They call it the “Mbudzi inofura payakasungirirwa syndrome”.Its now rampant in the police,people who process payments to creditors,hospitals,registrar general’s office,everywhere.The leakages are huge.
Mugabe created – all the decent asset management engineers have fled the country – whites not wanted.
Growing up in the 70’s early 80’s we never new water was such a big deal. There was always water flowing from the taps and if there was a maintenance problem there was a council truck with a man and a loud speaker telling us exactly when the interruption would be and when the water would return.
Zanu Pf created problems because instead of keeping the machinery maintained and repairs done in time they allowed everything to crumble while they diverted the money to personal use. Did they think these machinery ran by magic?
The description of the water pipes sounds just like ZPF i.e. aged, rusty etc so when are 60% of them going to leak into wherever?