Power cuts worsen Gweru’s water crisis
Already struggling without electricity in their homes, Gweru residents are now faced with acute water shortages as power outages batter the supply system.
Since a fortnight ago, the majority of high density suburbs in the city have not received water and this is not because the city’s supply dams have dried out, but rather it is a result of incessant power outages, which have resulted in the erratic pumping of the precious liquid at Gwenhoro pump station.
Resultantly, the power cuts induced water crisis has left residents with no choice, but to rely on the few boreholes available in the city or unprotected wells, which are sometimes contaminated with burst sewer effluent and underground seepage from soakaways.
This has sparked fears of yet another typhoid outbreak after the disease claimed 11 lives in 2018 and left 1 500 people infected in the Midlands capital.
The Sunday Southern Eye crew visited residential areas in Mkoba, Mtapa, Ascot and Mambo between April 12 and 15 where it witnessed long winding queues of people accessing water from boreholes.
Residents of Tinshell were fetching water from wells in their backyards.
Some of the residents interviewed at various boreholes said the water crisis was dire and they were fearful of the life-threatening conditions the water crisis could create.
“The water situation is bad, accessing water has become a daily struggle,” said 21-year-old Mtapa resident Philip Ngirazi.
“Tap water only comes out in the early hours of Saturday, but just for a few hours.
“On some Saturdays, it doesn’t; from last week till today there was absolutely nothing.”
Ngirazi said Gweru’s long unresolved water crisis was a ticking time bomb of magnified health risks that force residents to seek alternative, often unsafe water sources.
“If people fail to have potable water, obviously, they will seek alternative sources such as boreholes and wells,” he said.
“However, wells in people’s backyards are contaminated and have in the past caused cholera and typhoid outbreaks.
“Council needs to urgently deal with the water crisis.”
For a 36-year-old mother of three, Shantel Mudzikisi, fetching water from a community borehole at Mambo is now her ignoble job as she spends most of the day waiting for her turn.
“I got up at 4am this morning and joined the queue to get water,” Mudzikisi said.
“I then went home at around 6am to prepare food for my children so they could go to school.
“I then came back here at 8am to check how the queue was moving and then went home again for an hour or so.
“The water issue is now posing a danger to us.
“If it is not quickly attended to, there could be an outbreak of typhoid or cholera,” said Selina Maphosa, a Mkoba resident.
“At each house here in Mkoba, there is an average of four or five families living together and sharing a single toilet.
“Each of the families have children. Without water to flush down the toilets there is risk of a cholera outbreak.”
Maphosa said the desperate water situation was forcing Mkoba residents to use the maize fields to relieve themselves since they won’t have water to use in ablution facilities.
Besides the negative health implications associated with water shortages, school going children have also not been spared from the electricity-induced water shortages since they now spend more time at boreholes.
This is taking much of their study and homework time.
“I no longer have time to do my homework, the moment I knock off from school, I have to come here at Mtapa to fetch water for my sick grandmother,” said Samatha Munyuki* a Grade 7 pupil at Sandara Primary School.
“Before these water shortages I used to store water so that we could have water for the whole week, but now I have to come here and wait for my turn in the queue.”
There are also concerns over how the water crisis is affecting the social fabric of Gweru society.
“Married women are spending nights at boreholes and there have been fights between couples with others accusing their partners of cheating on them and using the water crisis as an excuse to sneak out of their marital homes,” Miriam Sibanda said.
“Young girls are also having nocturnal escapades with boys their age and some older men at the various boreholes here in Mtapa.
“And it’s dark out here. They end up doing crazy things, and that is also worrying for parents.”
Gweru Residents and Ratepayers' Association executive director Cornelia Selipiwe has since written to acting town clerk Livingstone Churu notifying him of the incessant water crisis and its adverse impact on the lives of residents.
“The water crisis is causing widespread discontentment among residents of Gweru since most residents fear the spread of water borne diseases (cholera and typhoid),” Selipiwe said in the letter.
“Women and children are forced to walk miles to the nearest water sources for clean water.
“Moreover with the increase in crime rate in the city it poses too much risk for women and children to be fetching water early in the morning or late at night.”
Selipiwe asked the town clerk to outline the measures which his office and the entire local authority have put in place to ensure that residents have access to clean potable water.
Churu told residents that the acute water shortages were as a result of power outages at Gwenhoro pump station and the Range booster.
“We have been experiencing severe load shedding at Gwenhoro Pump station and the Range booster,” he said.
“This has resulted in a suppressed pumping regime leading to erratic water supply across the city.
“The problem is likely to persist until the power situation at our water mains is resolved.”
Further investigations by this reporter revealed that on March 28 2023 a meeting was held between the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company and council where an agreement was reached in the office of Midlands Provincial Affairs secretary Abiot Maronge that Zesa would ensure power supply at the city’s pump stations for 12 hours.
However, the agreement has not solved the problem as council continues to pump below capacity and the city taps remain dry due to obsolete pumping infrastructure at the city’s pump stations.
The infrastructure for piped water in Gweru was developed before Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980, and was designed for an estimated population of 300,000 people.
Gweru’s greater urban area now has 1,2 million people according to mayor Hamutendi Kombayi.
Almost half of the population has intermittent or no access to potable water since the local authority is pumping 45 mega-liters of water per-day.
Those who have no access to clean water are at risk of contracting water-borne diseases such as cholera and typhoid.