The Sunday Mail
Lovemore Meya
Water shortages plaguing most parts of Zimbabwe are cause for concern, and local authorities continue to struggle to make water readily available.
Addressing these challenges necessarily involves everyone since in some cases, shortages might be exacerbated by failure to use the little resources at our disposal responsibly.
The need for a discussion on this topical issue is urgent.
Government and communities have to put their heads together to map the way forward.
The right to safe, clean, potable water is guaranteed under Section 77(a) of the Constitution.
So local authorities are obliged to provide water to both rural and urban communities.
Various international statutes ratified by Zimbabwe such as the African Charter on the Rights of the Child also underwrite this critical expectation.
Government, therefore, is expected to:
- Respect the right to water by not interfering with the enjoyment of this right;
- Protect the right to water by preventing any interference that makes it impossible to enjoy this right to water;
iii. Fulfil the right to water by taking action to ensure that everyone enjoys this right; and
- Central Government and local authorities have a duty to provide clean and potable water in Zimbabwe.
At last month’s Local Government Investment Conference (Logic) in Bulawayo, town clerks’ forum chairperson and Chitungwiza town clerk Dr George Makunde indicated that local authorities needed an estimated $2,3 billion to invest in water, waste water and solid waste management.
This shows the enormity of the task that lies ahead.
But work to ensure access to potable water cannot be deferred further lest many will continue to lose their lives to water-borne diseases such as cholera and typhoid.
Some cities such as Harare and Chitungwiza were recently affected by the cholera outbreak, which forced Government and private sector players to spend millions of dollars to fight the scourge.
Dr Makunde noted that funding needs for each local authority varies depending on the scale and size of the population served.
“Harare continues to be the major city and remains attractive to rural migrants; yet it has continued to grow without adequate services. This has to be corrected,” he said.
Balanced urbanisation, he said, now requires provincial capitals to play a role as regional hubs in line with the devolution concept spelt out in Section 264 of the Constitution.
This task also needs Government’s intervention to ensure that people’s lives are not endangered by poor water and sewer reticulation systems.
Government should make meaningful allocations towards clean environments and suitable drinking water since local authorities cannot do it alone.
But communities need to play their role as well.
The misuse of treated water in suburbs such as Chitungwiza is disheartening.
As the country’s third-biggest town after Harare and Bulawayo, Chitungwiza water shortages are even more critical since it doesn’t have its own water source.
Not surprisingly, it gets 34 megalitres per day from Harare City Council, but this is clearly not enough considering the town’s burgeoning population.
So, the 34 megalitres are rationed, which also creates problems as many people are resorting to shallow wells.
It is even made more worrying by reports some residents are bypassing the water meters, harvesting some of the water and storing it in shallow wells for future use.
But seepage is likely to take place, which makes the whole exercise futile.
Even in instances where the water is somehow kept in these wells, it might be contaminated.
There is need for ratepayers to be responsible in the way they manage potable water from local authorities.
Hoarding water is grossly irresponsible.
In any event, the water supplies that council gets from Harare are equivalent to a five-day supply per household per week.
Therefore, hoarding definitely short-changes other ratepayers.
Such practices are prejudicing council of potential revenue. What is sad is that some of these irresponsible individuals end up selling some of this harvested water to fellow ratepayers.
Such actions have to stop.
As if this is not enough, vandalism of council property is also equally troubling.
Some unruly elements are removing air valves along pipes, resulting in costly spillages.
Again, when shortages arise, it is council that takes the blame.
Ratepayers should also desist from using hose pipes to water their gardens as this method uses a disproportionately large amount of water.
This is not peculiar to Chitungwiza, as other cities are battling the same problem as well.
It is everyone’s responsibility to ensure the judicious use of water.
Chitungwiza municipality’s water and sewer section officers are grappling with these challenges on a daily basis.
Everyone has to be a responsible resident because his/her actions can have a potentially negative bearing on other ratepayers.
The municipality has had to consider cutting water supplies at night to prevent hoarding.
There are also plans to ensure water supplies from 5am to 7am and from 4.30pm to 6.30 pm daily.
It has to be considered that bypassing domestic water meters and redirecting water supplies to shallow wells is a criminal offence.
In times when water supplies are constrained, the precious resource has to be used sparingly in order to ensure use by as many people as possible.
Lovemore Meya is the public relations officer of Chitungwiza Municipality
