Opinion / Columnist
Bucket of water fill-up after 8 hours in Harare
06 Sep 2018 at 14:30hrs | Views
Community Water Alliance staff visited households with pre-paid water meters in Kambuzuma Section 1. The purpose of the visit was to assess the impact of pre-paid water meters installed in 2017 by City of Harare on its pilot project. In Kambuzuma Section 1, one hundred households were used as a pre-payment pilot policy on water by the City of Harare.
The visit and assessment by Community Water Alliance revealed that more than two thirds (of the 100 households installed) of those who pre-paid for water in 2017, still have the money un-used because water rarely comes in the area. Before installation of pre-paid water meters, the area used to have water 24/7. The situation now is extremely bad. A bucket of water fill-up after 8 hours.
Water cuts worsen the situation in Kambuzuma Section 1. Access to water which sometimes comes after a long time ( two days), is worsened by water cuts.
The price of potable water under the pre-payment system was $0,60c per cubic metre in 2017 when Kambuzuma residents paid for the services. This price is way too high as compared to the $0,25c per cubic metre under conventional metres in Harare.
The City of Harare is dwindling residents through double billing. The composite bill of the City of Harare is coming with water charges whilst residents are buying pre-payment tokens for water.
The challenges of access to water in Kambuzuma have forced residents to pay $40 per month on bulk water purchases. Some have resorted to digging shallow wells at their homesteads. Residents expressed high dissatisfaction with pre-paid water meters and proposed that the City of Harare should revert back to post-payment conventional meters. The local district is not helping because they have no knowledge on pre-paid water meters and they are referring residents to companies that installed the meters.
#3By3December2018
Hildaberta Rwambiwa
National Chairperson
Community Water Alliance
The visit and assessment by Community Water Alliance revealed that more than two thirds (of the 100 households installed) of those who pre-paid for water in 2017, still have the money un-used because water rarely comes in the area. Before installation of pre-paid water meters, the area used to have water 24/7. The situation now is extremely bad. A bucket of water fill-up after 8 hours.
Water cuts worsen the situation in Kambuzuma Section 1. Access to water which sometimes comes after a long time ( two days), is worsened by water cuts.
The price of potable water under the pre-payment system was $0,60c per cubic metre in 2017 when Kambuzuma residents paid for the services. This price is way too high as compared to the $0,25c per cubic metre under conventional metres in Harare.
The challenges of access to water in Kambuzuma have forced residents to pay $40 per month on bulk water purchases. Some have resorted to digging shallow wells at their homesteads. Residents expressed high dissatisfaction with pre-paid water meters and proposed that the City of Harare should revert back to post-payment conventional meters. The local district is not helping because they have no knowledge on pre-paid water meters and they are referring residents to companies that installed the meters.
#3By3December2018
Hildaberta Rwambiwa
National Chairperson
Community Water Alliance
Source - Hildaberta Rwambiwa
All articles and letters published on Bulawayo24 have been independently written by members of Bulawayo24's community. The views of users published on Bulawayo24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Bulawayo24. Bulawayo24 editors also reserve the right to edit or delete any and all comments received.
