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Open"El Niño Drought Worsened Chitungwiza Water Crisis"
The Chitungwiza Municipality has blamed the ongoing water crisis in the dormitory town on the El Niño-induced drought, which led to the early decommissioning of the Prince Edward Water Treatment Plant—four months earlier than in 2023.
The Harare City Council provides Chitungwiza with water from this plant, which was shut down in August after the Harava and Seke supply dams ran dry.
In an interview with NewsDay over the weekend, Chitungwiza Municipality spokesperson Tafadzwa Kachiko said the water crisis required urgent intervention. Said Kachiko:
We are witnessing the effects of the El Nino-induced drought. During this period last year, we were receiving an average of 14 megalitres per day and we could manage rationing the water.
The Prince Edward plant was decommissioned on December 5 last year, and we had just a month of dry spell because the situation went back to normal in January this year.
Kachiko said the council has reached out to the government for assistance and plans to convene a multi-stakeholder meeting to discuss the water crisis and develop short-term solutions.
Marvelous Khumalo, the spokesperson for the Chitungwiza Residents Association, urged the government to expedite the construction of the Kunzvi Dam, which is anticipated to alleviate the water challenges faced by both Harare and Chitungwiza. Said Khumalo:
The City of Harare water is also failing to meet its increasing demand for water thereby affording to offer Chitungwiza less than 10 megalitres per day against a daily demand of about 70 megalitres.
We hope the central government will prioritise finalisation of the Kunzvi dam project and other strategic dams so as to increase the raw water supply to the Harare metropolitan province whose population continues to expand rapidly.
Reliance on underground water is but just a stop-gap measure which is not sustainable.
Chitungwiza Business Community Trust chairman Tendai Mareya urged the council to scrap charges for borehole drilling and reduce fixed water rates.
Last week, Chitungwiza Mayor Rosaria Mangoma disclosed that the council has been receiving only one to three megalitres of water from Morton Jaffray on weekends—far below the required 75 megalitres per day.
She urged residents to source water from trusted alternatives to minimise health risks.
More: Pindula News
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