ENVIRONMENT, Water and Climate minister Saviour Kasukuwere on Thursday told Senate that 60% of Harare’s water is lost through leakages, while sewage inflows from Lake Chivero spilled into water catchment areas. VENERANDA LANGA
He said despite using several chemicals to purify the water, the leakages prevented people from accessing that water.
Kasukuwere was responding to a question by Manicaland Senator Judith Mawire who wanted to know what the ministry was doing to alleviate water problems in some cities which she said had spent almost 20 years without access to clean water resulting in people resorting to unsafe water sources.
“The main problem is that the pipes which transport this water are aged and are always breaking down and leaking, and as a result 60% of treated water from Morton Jaffray is lost in transit and 40% is the real amount of water which is accessed by people,” said Kasukuwere.
“As a result, this water cannot meet the needs of all the people as Harare needs 840-plus megalitres of water per day, but they are only able to treat 400 megalitres per day and despite this amount, 60% of the treated water is lost in transit.”
Kasukuwere said despite problems of raw sewage from Lake Chivero spilling into water sources, there was also a big problem of companies disposing raw materials and chemicals into water sources.
“As a result, in trying to purify the water we need more money and chemicals.
“At the moment, 10 chemicals are being used in order to purify the water to make it fit for human consumption and despite using all these chemicals and amounts of money that water does not get to the people. At times, there are people who need 18 cubic litres of water, but we are not able to supply that because of these problems,” he said.
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Kasukuwere said in some cities like Bulawayo the water situation had improved as they were now getting supplies every day instead of three times per week.
