It had been 2 weeks since water had stopped flowing out from the taps in Harare Zimbabwe making life unbearable for Rumbidzai Chiwara a 40 year old poultry farmer. Chiwara had to stop her children from using the toilet more than once a day as she would have to wake up at 3 am to go fetch water from a communal borehole .
By Lissah Munoti
Glenview residents are now having running water only once a week forcing them to wait in lines at communal wells and boreholes the whole day. “We have been facing water shortages but as for this year its worse as we are washing less and drinking less” said Chiwara.
Zimbabwe’s acute water shortages has resulted in the rescuing of Harare residents by Community water Alliance and Cleancity with the provision of bulk water supplies for free especially in the high density surbubs that are facing serious water challenges.
The national coordinator of CWA Hardlife Mudzingwa said that his organisation has engaged beverage manufacturer Schweppes to supply water in bulk in order to alleviate the water challenges in the urban communities. “The programme started during the early days of the lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic and Schweppes agreed to bring bulk water for distribution to residents where they queue for water,” he said. He also said that the programme has managed to reach out to many vulnerable residents especially the elderly and people with disabilities.
” We have been facing serious problems ,we could even stop ourselves from going to the toilet ” said Chenjerai a resident in Glenview.
However, the initiative has received a positive response from most residents as witnessed by the long queues before the arrival of water tanks. Nevertheless ,the government also need to intervene and help the most affected areas of Harare by the drillingĀ of more boreholes so as to reduce the problem of water shortages.
