News / National
Harare drinking water polluted - UZ
17 Nov 2016 at 09:41hrs | Views
Lake Chivero
An environmentalist and professor with the University of Zimbabwe, Christopher Magadza has claimed that millions of Harare residents are drinking contaminated water.
He said most of the city's water is recycled from the sewer treatment works.
"Water coming in from our flush system is actually what people are drinking right now . . . very little is coming in from Manyame and Mukuvisi" he is quoted saying by Daily News.
"There are so many harsh chemicals and pollutants in our raw water.
"The most common method of treating water for consumption is applying chlorine but if the water has a lot of organic material from pollution, chlorine will combine with that material to produce chlorocarbon that is far much more dangerous. You produce water that may be free of bacteria but is full of chemicals that cause cancer," he said.
Apart from the recycling of sewer water for consumption, he said there was also a growing problem of siltation of water sources due to stream bank cultivation.
"By allowing stream bank cultivation to become some-what a norm in Harare, Lake Chivero has lost about 18 % of its water to siltation and this prejudices council of $45 million every year in water revenue,".
He said most of the city's water is recycled from the sewer treatment works.
"Water coming in from our flush system is actually what people are drinking right now . . . very little is coming in from Manyame and Mukuvisi" he is quoted saying by Daily News.
"There are so many harsh chemicals and pollutants in our raw water.
"The most common method of treating water for consumption is applying chlorine but if the water has a lot of organic material from pollution, chlorine will combine with that material to produce chlorocarbon that is far much more dangerous. You produce water that may be free of bacteria but is full of chemicals that cause cancer," he said.
Apart from the recycling of sewer water for consumption, he said there was also a growing problem of siltation of water sources due to stream bank cultivation.
"By allowing stream bank cultivation to become some-what a norm in Harare, Lake Chivero has lost about 18 % of its water to siltation and this prejudices council of $45 million every year in water revenue,".
Source - Daily News
