Chitungwiza rehabilitates sewerage system
CHITUNGWIZA Municipality has started rehabilitating its sewerage system in different parts of the town.
The local authority, which has earmarked $200 000 for the project, yesterday began rehabilitating a collapsed sewer trunk line near Limbani Shopping Centre in Zengeza.
Chitungwiza Municipality public relations officer Mr Lovemore Meya said the project was expected to be completed in the next six weeks.
“The project, which has an estimated value of $199 974, is expected to last six weeks, and will include extracting and replacing of the damaged pipes measuring approximately 471 metres,” he said.
“We would like to inform Chitungwiza residents that we are well aware of the sewer problem in the town and council is undertaking a phased approach because of financial constraints.”
The contractor, said Mr Meya, would start preparatory works and the excavation of the collapsed line tomorrow.
“We are encouraging residents to cooperate with the contractor during the course of the work by exercising extreme caution and taking note of the trenches as well as rock dust from the excavation,” he said.
“The rehabilitation comes at a time when concerns on sewerage blockages were being raised by residents.
“However, we have since identified the cause of many blockages in the town, and it’s siltation.”
The local authority believes that siltation is being caused by collapsed sewer lines due to internal corrosion and vandalism or theft of cast iron manhole covers, illegal connections and intentional dumping of objects in manholes.
Further, the old sections are understood to be corroding and collapsing, causing blockages in the lines.
It is believed that the existence of squat pan toilets has become a major problem contributing to the blockages.
“In most areas where squat pan toilets are in use, they allow ingress of a lot of sand which accumulates, causing blockages,” said Mr Meya.
The areas most affected by this phenomenon are St Mary’s, including parts of Zengeza and Seke, where squat pan toilets were installed.
The council is mooting coming up with a revolving fund to replace the squat pan toilets with conventional ones, and the exercise will be done in phases.
So far, 120 toilets have been identified along Dumukwa Road in Zengeza and each will cost $100 to replace.