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Chitungwiza issues borehole water warning
Phillip Chidavaenzi, NewsDay
April 02, 2013

http://www.newsday.co.zw/2013/04/02/chitungwiza-issues-borehole-water-warning/

Chitungwiza Municipality is discouraging residents from using water from boreholes dug at their premises for drinking purposes as it could be contaminated by faecal matter since the water table in the dormitory town is too high.

Town clerk George Makunde told NewsDay yesterday that while it was “a misnomer” for individual households to drill boreholes, in view of the water crisis, they had not taken stern measures against such people.

“We don’t normally encourage people to drill boreholes. The water table is high, so the chances that the water could be contaminated are also high,” Makunde said.

“Drilling boreholes is also a misnomer, but because of the water problems, we just encourage people to make sure that the water (from boreholes) is used for other things and not drinking.”

Chitungwiza residents have battled critical water shortages for years and the problem has been exacerbated by the town’s failure to have its own water source.

Chitungwiza gets its water from Harare City Council and is currently saddled with an $8 million water debt.

“Establishing Chitungwiza as a dormitory town was meant to absorb pressure from Harare, but we do not have our own source of water so we rely on Harare. Normally, we need 45 mega litres of water a day, but Harare is only giving us 30 megalitres,” he added.

It was against this backdrop, he said, that residents ended up drilling boreholes so they could have regular access to water.

Early this year, Harare City Council’s health director Prosper Chonzi said 33% of the 254 boreholes in Harare were contaminated with faecal matter.

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