The Sunday Mail
HARARE City Council has increased water treatment chemical quantities to improve water quality amid residents’ complaints of “dirty” water.
The local authority’s water director, Engineer Hosiah Chisango, attributed the water quality to unclean water reservoirs and hot weather.
“We have increased chemical dosages at the water treatment plants to remove the algae that had multiplied in our dams due to the hot weather,” he said.
“The increase of chemical dosages, however, doesn’t mean the quality of the water is poor. We are only taking precautionary steps. Harare water is safe for human consumption. There is sufficient residual chlorine for disinfection.”
But Harare Residents Trust director Mr Precious Shumba said, “The fact that City of Harare is adding water treatment chemicals is an admission that there is a problem.
“They haven’t been monitoring water quality, that’s why we are where we are now – with dirty water.
“Council has been using a lot of money to buy water treatment chemicals and how much will be spent now? Where are they getting the money?”
The local authority claims that industries, petroleum companies and food outlets are the major water polluters.
However, a 2014 survey conducted by the Environmental Management Agency noted that Harare City Council itself is the major polluter of drinking water sources through the discharge of raw sewage.
In 2015, the city audit committee said council was failing to implement proper industrial chemical waste management.
The investigation discovered that there were no efforts to control chemical disposition into water bodies.
Council is currently recycling treated waste water back into its supply dam, Lake Chivero.
