Harare Mayor, Cllr Lovejoy Chitengu assured residents that the tap water in the city is safe to drink, adding that it has been passed fit for consumption by experts.

Chitengu made the remarks after touring Morton Jaffray waterworks on Saturday where he “demonstrated” that tap water is indeed safe by drinking from a tap nearby. He said:

Our water is clean as you can see, there is nothing wrong with it. So, we are encouraging residents to drink water from the taps because it is clean and has been approved by experts as fit for consumption.

Meanwhile, the Government has said Harare’s water supply has improved significantly over the last few weeks.

This follows interventions by a technical committee set up by the Government last month to address the severe supply challenges facing the capital.

In an interview with The Sunday Mail, Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development chief director (water resources and irrigation development) Tinayeshe Mutazu said:

The government took steps to intervene very quickly to avert total disaster, primarily a cholera outbreak, which was knocking on the city’s doors.

Treasury has provided financial resources to the tune of US$1.2 million. The City of Harare will draw down directly from Treasury.

Treasury is providing that funding through direct payments to service providers.

He said the Government has since disbursed about US$1.2 million for the procurement of water treatment chemicals which is being paid directly to suppliers. Said Mutazu:

The team has made progress, the first achievement being that they have managed to arrest the deterioration of water supply.

Supply was almost coming down to zero, to a point where the city could not provide any water.

This was not because there was no water in the dams, but because they could not pump untreated water into the city.

So, we moved from a point where daily supply was hovering around 150 mega litres to the current 350 mega litres.

But the desire is to get to above 520 mega litres per day, which is the current installed capacity.

Harare’s water crisis has been worsened by frequent power outages at Morton Jaffray waterworks.

More: Pindula News