Published by the government of Zimbabwe
10 July 2009
Harare — THE City of Harare has embarked on a massive pipe replacement programme in a bid to cut leakages accounting for the loss of almost half of all treated water.
Distribution and customer services manager for Harare Engineer Hosiah Chisango said services would soon improve after Government last week gave the council more than US$17million for that explicit purpose.
He said council had been losing 40 percent of treated water through leakages and vandalism.
"Water has been gushing out of burst pipes, flooding parts of the town at a time many people are battling with water problems. "These will be problems of the past once we finish our programme," Eng Chisango said. He said the money from Government would be put to good use.
"The funds, though short of what we need, must translate into a massive improvement in water and sewer services.
"US$3,9million is going towards improving water services and the rest will go to the other sections, that need immediate attention," he said. Eng Chisango said they would also focus on improving water and sewer services in residential areas if the funds were still available. Council is replacing old steel pipes with plastic ones and the operation will initially focus on the Central Business District before moving to industrial and residential areas. Council workers yesterday could be seen replacing old pipes along Leopold Takawira Street.
Apart from the pipes being old, the department also faces the problem of vandalism. "Some people are illegally tapping into the main water pipes, causing problems with the water supplies.
"There is need to sensitise the public on the good use of water and sewer infrastructure," he said.
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