Suburban
Harare Mayor Councillor Jacob Mafume says there is an improvement in water supply in Harare in the first quarter of the year.
Diana Nherera Suburban Reporter
Cllr Mafume said the improvement compared to the same period last year was due to the availability of water purification chemicals.
In his end of the first quarter report which he presented at Town House on Wednesday this week, Cllr Mafume said the challenges in securing aluminium sulphate have been addressed.
He said aluminium sulphate is being as per the agreement between council and its suppliers.
“There was a bit of stability in the water sector during the first quarter of the year compared to the same period last year though we would want all residents to have access to potable water,” he said.
Cllr Mafume said the city has come up with interventions in the water and waste water sector which include negotiating with water treatment chemicals suppliers to constantly supply the chemicals as per their arrangement.
“This resulted in no chemical shortage induced shutdown during the first quarter. The ultimate result of this was the increase in water production from an average of 269 megalitres per day in January to 353 megalitres per day in March 2023.
“We however had scheduled maintenance shutdowns,” he said.
Cllr Mafume said implementation of the chlorine dioxide technology project, which is expected to reduce the cost of purifying water, has commenced and is ready for commissioning.
“We are making arrangements for the delivery of all the required chemicals so that we can commission the project which, if successful can help the city to save at least US$300 000 per month in water treatment chemicals,” said the Mayor.
Despite the improvement in the production of water from an average of 269 megalitres per day in January to 353 megalitres per day in March 2023, not all Harare residents are getting council tap water.
Residents from Sentosa, Greendale, Waterfalls, Mt Pleasant, Borrowdale and a number of high density suburbs are always reporting that their taps are dry.
On average Harare requires about 600 megalitres per day and the 353 meglitres it averaged in March are just slightly above half its daily requirement which explains why the improvement is still way off to adequately cover all residential areas.
