Harare residents continue to be dogged by water shortages, with areas in the central business district and most residential suburbs having to endure frequent long-lasting water cuts. In a service delivery update for August, the Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) said water supplies remained a problem in most parts of Harare, as Morton Jaffray was only able to pump at half capacity.

In Kambuzuma, residents said they had had intermittent water supplies for two months. They said their taps were always dry, save for a few days, where the service was restored during the night, only for the taps to run dry before 05h00.

Children found fetching water at a borehole in Kambuzuma Section 1 yesterday said they made several trips to the borehole in a single day, as they helped their parents with household chores.

Nine-year-old Tsitsi Tamangani, who is a Grade Four pupil at a primary school in the suburb, said she and her friends were not enjoying the schools holiday as they had to fetch water most of the time.

“I fetch water with a 10-litre bucket many times every day,” she said. “My friends and I only play after fetching water. Our mothers sometimes say we have to come to the borehole 10 times until all the buckets at home are full.”

Prosper Dzimba, a builder, said extending a house in the neighbourhood was taking him longer than usual as he had to make several trips to the borehole, fetching 60 litres per trip. Some residents were found doing their laundry at one of the boreholes in the area.

They complained that a well from which they used to fetch water for laundry had since been closed. According to CHRA, suburbs which faced acute water shortages in August included Mabvuku, Dzivarasekwa, Ruwa and Highfield.

Source: allAfrica.com