An acute shortage of water in Harare and its environs has resulted in the exploitation of residents by “water barons” who have seized boreholes and are seeling a 20-litre bucket of water for RTGS$1.50.
A fact sheet by the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) at the weekend revealed that the situation is rife in Harare’s Epworth high-density suburb and the sprawling Chitungwiza dormitory town. Said ZPP in the statement:
In Chitungwiza in Zengeza 4, ZPP recorded a truck selling a bucket of water at $1.50. Desperate residents are left with no option but to purchase the water.
In Epworth Constituency, Ward 2, three youths are manning a borehole and forcing residents to purchase two buckets of water at $1.50.
Water availability in Harare has increasingly become erratic with some suburbs going for months without tap water.
Harare City Council blames the dire situation to a drought and a shortage of water treatment chemicals which at one point resulted in the shutting down of Morton Jaffray water treatment plant.