Mangaliso Kabulika
DESPITE efforts by the Harare City Council to address the water crisis, several suburbs in the capital continue to experience shortages.
The situation has been worsened by reduced raw water collection and limited water capacity in the city’s dams.
The city council has now started to restore supplies based on a demand management schedule, but residents are continually asked to use water sparingly to conserve supplies further.
Prince Edward, one of the major water sources, has significantly reduced its raw water abstraction from an average of 90 mega litres per day to around 70 mega litres per day due to the decreased capacity of the dams.
In a statement, the council said:
“Residents in the south western suburbs, including Glen View, Glen Norah, Kuwadzana and Rydle Ridge faced water unavailability.
“However, the city council has begun restoring supplies based on a demand management schedule, offering some respite to the affected areas.
“While the southern suburbs such as Sunningdale, Mbare, Harare Airport, Waterfalls, Graniteside and Willowvale industrial areas have access to water, the northern suburbs, Vainona, Groombridge, Mt Pleasant and Borrowdale continue to experience water shortages.
“The challenges faced by the north eastern suburbsof Greendale, Mandara, Mabvuku, Tuatara, Zimre Park and Epworth were compounded by power failures at the Letombo pump station, resulting in reduced pumping and negatively impacting water supply to these areas.”