Back to Index

Update on the current water situation
Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA)
August 07, 2012

Water availability in Harare has been a major problem with almost all suburbs experiencing severe shortages of 3 weeks intervals and in some cases months on end. Due to the maintenance programme currently taking place at Morton Jeffery Water Works, only 3 pumps are working instead of 6 pumps. As a result of the maintenance, Glen Norah and Highfields are expected to only receive very limited supplies with areas like Dzivarasekwa receiving nothing at all. Areas like Borrowdale Brooke, Highlands, Eastlea and Philadelphia are also experiencing shortages because the Alex Reservoir is receiving a small amount of water and sometimes none at all from the main water body.

The city centre, hospitals and areas that use the same pipeline are the only areas receiving sufficient water. Sources from Harare water revealed that at the moment there is nothing that can really be done considering the fact that the pipes being used were erected in the 1950s and have now become obsolete and too small for the ever increasing Harare population. Water supplied by Lake Chivero and Manyame was only meant to cater for two million people but now over four million people are depending on it hence there are bound to be shortages. The situation is only set to improve after the construction of Kunzvi Dam which is expected to increase supplies. The construction of the dam is expected to take five years to complete so until then water will remain a scarce commodity in Harare.

CHRA independent findings

• What is of concern is that the water and sewer services generate about 41% of the total revenue of the City of Harare, yet water services suffer the most. The city of Harare is expected to spend over 50% of its budget on administration a situation which hampers the capacity of the City to deliver quality water services.
• In any case the City of Harare does not need to wait until the completion of the Kunzvi dam in order to address the current water challenges that are affecting the city. Because of poor maintenance strategies, Harare is losing about 350 mega litres of treated water daily through linkages and this is seriously affecting the city supply system which then culminates into water shortages.
• The issue of water is also related directly to the issue of governance. If you take a look at the areas which are being affected by these shortages, most of them do not have representation in council. An example is Mabvuku, Mt Pleasant, Dzivarasekwa and Hillside. These areas have had their ward councillors dismissed by the Minister hence there is no one at the moment who can address these problems in council whilst the councillor for hillside passed away.
• An improvement in terms of accountability will see residents committing themselves to pay. Residents currently do not know what is spent by council on water, human resource or any other service. It is always important to let people know how much of the rate-payers money is being spent on service delivery and on administration as it will bring accountability and confidence building amongst residents and this should be done at least bi-monthly.

Visit the CHRA fact sheet

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP