Water crisis worsens
SYDNEY SAIZE IN MUTARE
Residents in Mutare have gone for more than five days without running water supplies, owing to burst pipes, Business Times can report.
Most affected areas include Dangamvura, Pegasus, Founders, Sommerset, and parts of Chikanga, Hobhouse, among others.
“May someone at Mutare City Council explain what is happening. We have gone for four days without water in Area 7, Dangamvura. The silence is deafening and it seems there is no reprieve. We are now surviving on rain water. Please bear with us,” a Mutare resident complained on a WhatsApp residents group.
Another resident, Celine Mubayiwa, from Hobhouse said she found it disturbing to continue paying for a service she seldom enjoys.
“Despite paying for the water it remains a scarce resource in most households. Some time back we agreed that we pay and they (Council) deliver but now we pay and they don’t deliver,” Mubayiwa said.
Rights activist, Farai Maguwu of the Centre for Natural Resources Governance, said the reason for the crisis in Mutare borders on mismanagement.
“Water is life and health. Given the abundance of water coming from Pungwe, there is only one reason we ascribe to people going for (about) five days without water, it’s mismanagement and ineptitude,” Maguwu said.
Dangamvura councillor, Zvenyika Misi, said the water crisis has been a result of burst water pipes from across the suburbs in the city and whose pipes are still to be delivered for replacement from a supplier.
“We are aware of the water issue but as council we have provided a water bowser to service the affected areas as we wait for the situation to be rectified,” said Misi.
Mutare’s Hobhouse councillor, John Nyamhoka, issued a statement to residents in his area explaining the challenge faced.
“As city of Mutare we are experiencing some water pipe bursts, as ward 17, we are not spared by these unfortunate bursts.
“The biggest challenge now is as a council we do not have in stock, especially the 75mm pipes. The material comes from Russia but due to its war with Ukraine, it is now very difficult to produce that material,” Nyamhoka said.
He added: “As a city we are now looking for an alternative way to get another type of pipe from different manufacturers.”
The Mutare city council said it has a backlog of burst and the rate of burst water is high during the rainy season because of the reduced water usage and as a result the old water infrastructure gives in to excessive pressure.
The council said at least 14 residential areas around the city have been affected by pipe bursts.
