Suburban
SOME residents of Sentosa in Mabelreign in Ward 16 are still not receiving council tap water since last month.
Diana Nherera Suburban Reporter
A survey conducted by Suburban showed that residents of Jansen Road, Ruth Road and Val Close do not have council tap water.
A resident of Jansen Road, Mr Flavian Gonese said he has not received water for over a month.
Another resident who lives along Ruth Road said she last received water last month.
“No water in September so far,” she said.
Residents said they are having to fetch water from their neighbours who have are receiving some council water supplies or from those with boreholes while those who can afford are buying water from bulk water suppliers.
“We buy water, sometimes we get from our neighbours and from Seventh Day Adventist Church in Kensington. We also get from a borehole in Mabelreign and from residents with boreholes,” said Mr Gonese.
Another resident said they buy bulk water on top of having to pay the City of Harare for non-delivered water and non-collected garbage.
The residents expressed concern over the continued approval of new developments when existing households are not getting water and all the other necessary services to make living in a city bearable.
“Those up the hill are not receiving water regularly.
“What’s it going to be like when 90 (new) flats and all these cluster homes are occupied? There seems to be another three cluster homes going up in West Road.
“They’ve already added 100 households onto the water system with the existing cluster homes.
“It’s time to stop further developments until water supplies have improved,” said a Sentosa resident.
Residents at the Zambezi Flats in the same area also complained of numerous pipe bursts and council’s failure to complete repairs of reported leaks.
“At Zambezi Flats there are so many unattended bursts of underground pipes.
“They hardly finish what they start working on leaving open pits instead,” said a woman who lives at the Zambezi Flats.
A few weeks ago, ZANU PF District Coordinating Committee 4 secretary for administration, Cde Spencer Mackenzie Mabeka had to come to the rescue of residents in the ward following a prolonged period without water supplies.
Cde Mabeka donated 30 000 litres of borehole water to residents of Zambezi Flats and Shashi Flats as well those in Sunridge.
He said he was assisting residents with water for their household chores as they have gone for several weeks without the supplies.
Contacted for comment, Ward 16 Councillor Denford Ngadziore said the water schedule for Sentosa was interrupted.
He said residents should expect water this week.
Cllr Ngadziore said residents of Sunridge who had also gone for months without water started receiving tap water on Monday this week following some maintenance work done at the tank used as a reservoir to feed Avonlea, Marlborough and Sunridge.
He said the solution for residents on Trafalgar Road and Jansen Road who are on a hill is to add a third pump at the Blue Lagoon Pump Station.
“Currently the tank is operating with two pumps and there is need for three pumps to add pressure,” said Cllr Ngadziore.
At a recent service delivery meeting for Ward 16 held last month, Cllr Ngadziore said the water infrastructure in the ward was old, affecting water supply in some areas.
He said the workers from the water department tasked with serving Ward 16 have to attend to more than 30 leaks a day whenever pumping resumes.
“We have so many leaks because of the old infrastructure. If you go to Mt Pleasant, Marlborough and Avondale, there are less than 10 people who work for the water department but here in Mabelreign our water department staff consists of over 40 people.
“We are close to Warren Control Pump Station and whenever there is pumping, water comes with a lot of pressure and we normally experience more than 30 leaks a day and we are glad that our department tries to attend to all the leaks reported,” said Cllr Ngadziore.
In Ward 7 the water situation is said to have improved.
Ward 7 Councillor Happymore Gotora told Suburban that the water situation has improved since the special council meeting on water held last month.
“Almost everyone in the ward is receiving water at least twice a week,” he said.
Cllr Gotora said the city is working on improving the water situation and coming up with a permanent solution to the water crisis.
