WATER supplies in most parts of Harare were expected to normalise from yesterday as engineers were finishing repairing burst pipes at Warren operations, city officials have said.
BY SILENCE CHARUMBIRA
Harare City Council spokesperson, Michael Chideme, said the current water shortages were caused by a burst pipe at Warren Control, which left treated water going to waste.
Chideme also said council was facing challenges with the incessant power cuts.
“We are actually fixing the problem and most of the work was finished around midnight on Tuesday such that by tonight (last night) the situation is expected to start normalising in most areas,” he said.
He said only a few suburbs like Sunningdale, parts of Mbare and Hatfield, as well as the central business district were not seriously affected by the crisis as they were being supplied by the Prince Edward plant.
Most high-density suburbs in Harare have endured dry taps since Sunday with residents in suburbs such as Glen View, Glen Norah and Budiriro resorting to unprotected sources of water.
In areas like Mbare and the Beatrice Cottages, residents braved long hours to queue for water at the few available boreholes.
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Harare City Council distribution engineer Artwell Ruhukwa said if everything goes according to plan most areas should have started receiving water by end of the day yesterday.
“Our major problem is to isolate this section. It takes about 12 hours to close and open the valves, so when they finish the welding we need a minimum of 12 hours to open the valves, discharge the lime and start the pumping,” Ruhukwa said.
Harare Resident Trust director Precious Shumba castigated the city fathers for failing to come up with a solution to the water situation, accusing them of lying that the $144 million Chinese loan was the solution.
“Mbare, Sunningdale and Msasa residents have been suffering in silence without water and the City of Harare has not provided the citizens with alternatives besides their silence and excuses when probed,” Shumba said.
“Harare City Council is reactive and lacks the personnel that have capacity to understand what the citizens want. Besides the water shortages, water tanks have reportedly gone for plus 10 years without being cleaned, resulting in the water being distributed, when it is available, being of very poor quality, unacceptable to the residents.”
