Harare City Council has notified residents that it had run out of water treatment chemicals and as a result, it is likely to shut one of the major treatment plants. Already, the city has water problems and shutting Morton Jaffray would exacerbate the already dire situation.
The situation is however not unique to Harare as almost all subnational governments nationwide have been having water challenges. Some attribute the deficit to dwindling water levels in water sources.
Not so long ago, Harare City Council revealed that the scarcity of foreign currency was worsening the water crisis.
The city fathers said that the central bank, the Reserve Bank Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), was not disbursing foreign currency enough for the Local Authority to fund its operations.
Posting on Facebook, the Local Government Authority said:
DEAR RESIDENTS
Harare City Council has run out of key water treatment chemicals and is at the moment stretching the little available amounts to treat limited supplies of water. If no urgent bailout is given between today and Tuesday, management will be forced to shut down Morton Jaffray Water Treatment Plant.Council is buying foreign currency on the runaway interbank exchange market against a stagnant and inflexible budget.