Harare needs 1.4 billion for new source water system

By David Chidende

With typhoid cases continuing to pop up in the capital city, Harare municipality needs at least US$1, 4 to build new sources of water supply, an official has said.

Harare town clerk Dr Tendai Mahachi said Harare Metropolitan province need about 1.200 mega litres of water to cater on daily basis to cater for residents.
He added that the City Council is only pumping 630 mega litres of water a day which is far short of the required litters.
“At the rate of which Harare is expanding we are likely to face a critical water problem in the next three years if no new water sources are built,” Dr Mahachi said.
The town clerk also added that the water reticulation and sewerage system was designed to cater for 250 000 residents, but since then nothing has been done to cater for the evergrowing population.
Dr Mahachi said that the only solution is to build new dams such as Kunzvi and Musanhi and US$1.4 billion is needed for such projects to be completed and also a new partner is needed for such projects to be successful.
Harare has been facing perennial water problems for a very long time since no infrastructural developments have been carried out to upgrade water reticulation and sewerage systems and this also applies to other satellite towns.
The water system for Harare was built in 1956 and since then nothing has been done. The typhoid epidemic that hit the capital in October last year saw at least 1500 being diagnosed forcing the City of Harare to ration water supplies in low density suburbs and divert it to the high density suburbs.
Stakeholders said that there is need for government to ensure that money is available to refurbish the water, sanitation and sewage infrastructure as a matter of urgency in order to arrest the outbreak of water borne diseases such as cholera and typhoid which have been a common occurrence in the past five years.