Water crisis worsens in Mutare

THE water situation worsened in Mutare this week with most parts of the city experiencing low supplies.

Businesses in the Central Business District that always received normal supplies were caught unawares after their taps ran dry.

Supermarkets and restaurants made frantic efforts to look for water in containers to sustain operations.

High-density suburbs were the hardest hit with some parts of Dangamvura, Chikanga and Hobhouse going for days without supplies.

City engineer, Engineer Donaldson Nyatoti, attributed the increasing shortages to the hot weather among a plethora of other factors.

He said the crisis in the CBD was being caused by illegal open-bucket car wash operators who were tampering with the gate valves on the pipeline to access free water.

"We are having problems with illegal car wash operators who are vandalising gate valves in the CBD in order to access free water. We have since engaged our municipal police to look into the matter. Apart from that we are now in hot weather and we are trying to adjust the system to meet the new demand for water. Households use a lot of water during this time of the year yet we are having limited supplies due to constraints with our conveyance capacity," he said.

Eng Nyatoti said the old pipe network was experiencing numerous bursts that were affecting supplies.

"Bursts are occurring daily and they are affecting supplies. Our piping system is getting air locked and thus we have to clear it in order to supply water. We still need to address the issue of leakages in Sakubva that have partly resulted in us losing 53 percent of the treated water. Mercy Corps is helping us avert the problem in some locations in the suburb, but a lot needs to be done to arrest the situation."

Eng Nyatoti said the water supply situation would greatly improve if the local authority finishes the ongoing augmentation exercise which was derailed some years back due to a $330 000 water pipes fraud tender deal.

The exercise could have been completed but it was stalled after council was defrauded $330 000 by a Harare company that was paid to supply pipes which were never delivered up to this date.

The scandal sucked in MDC-T councillors who conspired with officials at the Civic Centre to dubiously award a tender to a company they knew well that it was not in a position to supply the piping material.