City of Harare has committed to increasing potable water quality from the current 87 to 96 percent by 19 April 2018 amid concerns that the authority is supplying discolored and odorous water- a major health hazard likely to escalate disease outbreaks.
In an interview with 263Chat after the Rapid Results Project implementation launch and workshop held in the capital on Wednesday, City Acting Town Clerk, Engineer Hosiah Chisango said issues of discoloration and odor of water were largely due to the old pipes.
“As Council we acknowledge the concerns raised by our customers regarding our water,issues of discoloration and odor that have been raised largely due to old pipes which are prone to to corrosion.
“Our dam levels are low and we are extracting raw water whose quality is not very good, secondly scarcity of foreign currency have affected availability of water treatment chemicals causing interrupted pumping of water,” said Chisango.
He applauded the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe for setting aside US$2.5 million dollars per month for the water treatment chemicals saying it will ensure a steady supply of water to residents.
“Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has set aside US$2.5 million dollars per month for the water treatment chemicals and this is a very positive development and will ensure steady supply of the chemicals.
“On our side as the City, we have an ongoing reservoir cleaning programme and we have also isolated areas where the complaints relating to discoloring have been emanating from and this is a result of the old and corroded pipes which are replacing under under a program that will run for the next two hundred days and we will continue to come up with interventions to improve the water quality,” he said.
