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Council decommissions contaminated boreholes
Moses Chibaya, Community Radio Harare (CORAH)
January 24, 2013

Glen View 7 residents are up in arms against Harare City Council after it emerged that the local authority is set to decommission a number of boreholes which it claims are pumping out contaminated water that is not fit for human consumption.

The residents are opposed to the development saying the move will leave them without an alternative source of water as council is failing to provide the precious liquid. 'It's not possible for council to shut down the boreholes. We are using the water for other purposes not for drinking because we are aware of the risks associated with drinking contaminated water,' Chipo Mutanga of Glen View told Talking Harare on Wednesday.

Another resident Justice Mungwena says, 'Council is saying the boreholes are causing typhoid so they want to shut them down. This is going to cause more disaster because l can't remember the last time we got tap water, so it's better for them to leave the boreholes like that.'

Harare Residents Trust (HRT) Founder and Director, Precious Shumba has weighed in saying his lobby group has received several reports concerning the decommissioning of boreholes by Harare City Council.

'People are just defending their rights because they have a right to get water. It is impossible for council to take such drastic measures. It must find other alternatives before condemning the boreholes,' Shumba said.

Harare City Council Health Director Dr Prosper Chonzi confirmed the development but referred Talking Harare to Engineer Philip Pfukwa in-charge of the engineering services, whom we however failed to reach.

'There are a number of boreholes that we de-commissioned. Some of the boreholes are supposed to be rehabilitated but I don't have the information why they were decommissioned let me give you Pfukwa's number because he was working on that issue,' Dr Chonzi said.

As a result of continued water shortages in Harare, residents in areas such as Mbare and Chitungwiza have resorted to fetching water from streams and pen wells thereby exposing themselves to typhoid and cholera.

Water shortages have become a common feature in Harare, a situation which prompted development partners to join hands and drill boreholes as an emergency response to the 2008/9 cholera outbreak which claimed at least 4000 lives.

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