Suburban
A RESIDENTS representative body has cautioned against continuous drilling of boreholes in Harare saying there should be a limit to borehole drilling which is affecting the water table.
Suburban Reporter
The Harare Residents Trust (HRT) recently noted with concern the fact that almost every leader was aiming or promising to drill a borehole or boreholes in their wards or constituencies.
The body described the trend as worrying and called on the City of Harare to urgently address the water pumping problems and leakages and theft of treated water to put an end for the need for more boreholes to drilled.
“Harare is an urban area. Boreholes must be limited. The situation is now unbelievable. Every leader wants to drill a borehole to avail water to the people. The underground water table is being affected in the process. We must improve our water pumping capacity and ensure that we plug all the leakages and thefts of water along the water distribution network,” said in a recent post on its social media platforms.
Responding to the post, residents said the City of Harare’s management should be taken to task for allowing theft of treated water.
“Harare Water management should be fired for allowing the illegal water connections and for allowing close on 50 percent of treated water to be wasted to leakages. They are totally useless and incompetent,” said a resident.
Some residents wondered whether the City of Harare officials were aware of these issues as the municipality was continuing to parcel out land for more housing developments yet it was failing to cope providing water to the existing ones.
“Does anyone in the planning office realise. Buy and knock down one house that had four occupants. Then put in 10 smaller dwellings nose to cheek that have two or three occupants. Big strain on the system,” observed a resident.
Other residents appealed to the residents’ representative body to take up the issue with the City of Harare top management and get them to see reason.
“Harare Residents Trust please sort out the water issue with city of Harare. We need water! It’s a human right It’s a priority!! More than anything else any other billion-dollar project water is a must.”
Debating the water issue on their residents’ group, Highlands ratepayers expressed concern that the City of Harare was not implementing the ban on use of hosepipes at a time a majority of the capital city’s residences and businesses were facing biting water shortages.
The Highlands residents argued that even those with boreholes should be compelled to adhere to the hosepipe ban warning that the capital city ran the risk of becoming a desert in a few years’ time.
“Harare will be a desert within the next couple of years. When is the City Council going to ban the use of borehole water for garden irrigation? We have neighbours who insist on washing the road every second day. Not on purpose but by irrigating their verge and irrigation sprays that go over their wall. Image is what dictates Zimbabwe.” said a Highlands resident.
Responded another resident: “You’re right to be angry, Penny and City of Harare has been pathetic for many years. I wonder how many people have been prosecuted for illegal use of hose pipes. And then there are companies like Grant Thornton not only waste water watering the verge but have killed ancient Msasa (trees) through drowning.”
Last year, Borrowdale residents spoke about the need to control borehole drilling in Harare’s residential areas as the water table keeps dropping because most households and businesses are resorting to borehole water given the unreliable supplies from the City of Harare.
Contributing to debate on the Ward 18 pre-budget consultative meeting, some residents from the northern suburbs felt the drilling of boreholes at most residential and businesses premises was not sustainable.
The residents suggested the drilling of community boreholes and then connecting households or businesses to share one borehole instead of the current situation where almost every property owner is contemplating having their own borehole.
According to the residents, in some countries borehole drilling is not done per individual property but they get residents and businesses to share from a few boreholes drilled within a suburb, commercial or industrial area.
Residents also noted that in some countries only a few boreholes are approved but the borehole water is supplemented with council water.
Harare North Member of the National Assembly Mr Allan Markham told residents that approval for borehole drilling was not a function of the City of Harare but fall under the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa).
Residents of the northern suburbs have also been battling with bulk water suppliers who are abstracting water from boreholes in residential areas to sell to people in areas worst affected by Harare’s water shortages.
Kunzvi Dam in Mashonaland East province has been touted as the permanent solution to the water woes in Harare and neighbouring towns such as Chitungwiza.
The contractor of the dam China Nanchang Engineering has since moved to the site and pledged to complete the work.
