HARARE, Nov 6 (IPS) - Harare mayor Muchadeyi Masunda is a troubled man. When he took office in July 2008, one of his most immediate tasks was to resolve the water crisis in the capital.
But as the year draws to an end, many areas of Harare still do not have a reliable supply of the precious liquid. Even the man who superintends thousands of households has no piped water at his own home.
Greater Harare requires 1,000 megalitres per day. The Morton Jaffray Water Works has the capacity to generate 614 megalitres of water per day, while Prince Edward has a capacity to pump 100 megalitres.
With the current shortages of power and water treatment chemicals, the combined output from the two plants is at 600 megalitres, but a significant proportion of the water being treated is being lost to leaks.
"The problem is the leakages," confirms Masunda. "We are losing up to 40 percent of treated water through leakages."
Taking the leakages into account, slightly more than a third of the daily water requirement reaches industrial and domestic users. To resolve the problem, the Harare City Council in October embarked on a highly visible programme to replace water pipes, mostly in the central business district. The council dug out old pipes in the CBD, and replaced them with new ones.
The programme started at a high pace, but it has since slowed down. Mounds of earth, uncovered trenches and old pipes left on the roadside are now becoming an eyesore, and a hazard to motorists and pedestrians.
Residents' representatives are not happy with the slow progress.
Instead of "just digging", Moyo said the city council should have addressed the pumping capacity. Moyo said there was need to contol how revenues from water bills are used in order to improve the system.
"For us as residents, it seems water revenue is being abused, it is not being put into proper use. It is being used for other things," he said.
Despite their frequent clashes over many issues, Moyo and Masunda agree that there is need for collaboration between residents and the city government to combat pollution of water resources, which they say is the root cause of problems in Harare.
"Because of industrial and domestic pollution, we have to procure a cocktail of between eight and nine chemicals to treat the water," Masunda said.
"People have to do their bit as well. They have to help by not polluting the system. They can do this by not throwing litter all over and by properly disposing of sewage. If we are able to treat the sewage, we will reduce the amount of chemicals."
Moyo challenged the authorities to scale up their awareness efforts on issues of pollution. Because Harare sits on the catchment area of its two major supply dams, Lake Chivero and Lake Manyame, it is easy for waste, including raw sewage, to flow into the dams.
Said Moyo: "Our solutions must go beyond just digging in town. They must address the root cause of the problem. Issues of pollution should be addressed. The reason why we have to spend so much on water chemicals is because not much is being done to contain pollution." In recent years, Harare has struggled to procure enough water treatment chemicals, resulting in perennial water shortages in the capital.
At the official opening of Parliament on Oct 6, President Robert Mugabe shifted the blame onto middlemen, whom he accused of pushing costs up.
"Reliance on middlemen in the procurement of water treatment chemicals has been a major cost driver in the provision of water. To obviate this challenge, government will centralise the procurement of water treatment chemicals."
In supporting this view, Masunda said: "When it comes to the bulk procurement of anything, let us put our heads together. This will help us speak with one voice… Service delivery has nothing to do with politics. We need to all do an appraisal and rationalise these things."
Neither Mugabe nor Masunda named the middlemen involved in procurement of water treatment chemicals. But in a recent address to journalists, water resources minister Samuel Sipepa said the middlemen were connected to influential government officials.
"By the time a chemical reaches Harare or Bulawayo (from where it is bought in South Africa), its price will be 10 times higher. These chemicals would be very cheap if we were using the right thing but there are too many middlemen in between. These are people who have become very rich through selling water treatment chemicals," Nkomo said.
The big challenge for Masunda and his team of councillors now is to ensure that the old pipes are cleared and the trenches covered, and compacted, before the rains begin.
As Mariet Moyo, who works at Century House East along Nelson Mandela Avenue puts it, "at this time of the year the tractors are better off at the farm than here (in Harare)".
(END/2009)
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