EMA fines Kwekwe City Council

THE Environment Management Agency (EMA) has fined Kwekwe City Council $2 000 for discharging raw sewage into Sebakwe Dam.

Kwekwe City Council has been struggling to service its aging water and sewer reticulation system and has been reportedly discharging contaminated water into surrounding rivers.

Midlands Provincial Affairs Minister Owen Ncube early this week ordered EMA to investigate the discharge of raw sewer into Sebakwe Dam amid reports that dozens of fish species were dying owing to the contamination.

In an interview, EMA Midlands provincial manager Mr Benson Bhasera said the agency has conducted investigations and identified Kwekwe City as the culprit.

“We have conducted our investigations and discovered that Kwekwe City Council has been responsible for the contamination of water in Sebakwe Dam.

“We have since fined them $2000 and ordered them to rectify the anomaly,” he said.

The agency has however, allayed fears that the contamination of Sebakwe River could generate into an ecological disaster.

Sebakwe River flows into Kariba Dam and there have been fears that this could be a huge disaster if the contamination flows into the dam.

“We did some samples downstream and discovered that the water flowing down stream was not contaminated. We also conducted samples into Kwekwe River and discovered that the water was not contaminated,” he said.

Mr Bhasera said Kwekwe municipality was making efforts to rectify the anomaly.

“They gave an excuse that the problem was caused by the fact that they had taken their major pump for service in Bulawayo.

“They indicated that the pump will be fixed this week and we will be going back to take the samples in the dam for the second time to see if the contamination was reducing,” he said.