The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), has called on the government intervene and help Harare City Council find a lasting solutions to the water problems bedeviling the city, posing a health time bomb that might explode and expose residents to waterborne diseases.
The opposition said the water situation in Harare has reached another level where all stakeholders should join hands, put all hands on deck and participate in activities that might bring sanity in the city.
“The city council is doing all it can to deal with the water situation and avert any disaster, but there is a need for collective action, given our observation as the MDC Local government secretaries during our tour of the water facilities in Harare.
“Harare is located on a watershed that feeds into Lake Chivero and Lake Manyame and if not treated at the sewage plants, all pollution generated from the city’s industries, households and the small and medium enterprises will find its way into the city’s water bodies, thereby compromising and endangering the lives of residents,” said the party’s secretary for local government Elias Mudzuri after the tour of the water facilities in Harare.
Mudzuri said from what he observed during the tour, algae is making it almost impossible to treat water and the raw water parameters are no longer easy to treat as they have exceeded design capacity.
He added that the suction level has plummeted to just 4-5 meters above the lowest extraction level in the lake. Below that level, the little water left will suck unacceptable dirt and endanger aquatic life.
Meanwhile, some parts of the capital city recorded cholera and typhoid cases which resulted in loss of lives.
