Water crisis: Cause for concern

The water crisis that has hit Zimbabwe’s major cities, particularly Bulawayo and Harare should be serious cause for concern.

The nonchalant attitude by central and local government in finding a permanent solution is, for want of a better term, disastrous.

The 2008 cholera outbreak that had killed an estimated 4 300 people by January 2010 should be taken as a sign of grim things to come if water and sanitation problems are not addressed.

Currently, the country is battling typhoid as a result of the shortage of potable water in cities.

The water crisis mainly affects the poor who are excluded from the limited and more reliable water infrastructure that is set up mainly for the rich.

The poor are then forced to extract water from unprotected sources and boreholes that draw tainted water from underground.

The World Health Organisation Epidemiological Report of March 5-11 2012 notes that there is a high rise of preventable water diseases such as typhoid in Zimbabwe. The most affected of course are the poor who constitute the majority of urban dwellers.

The water crisis in the country is there for all to see as long queues can be seen at the few boreholes sunk by Unicef in urban areas.

Women bear the greater burden triggered by the water crisis.

Women and girls have to travel long distances and endure long hours in queues to get water. It is fact that most urban dwellers do not stay within a radius of one kilometre to the nearest alternative water source such as a borehole.

The United Nations (UN) estimates that 4 400 children under the age of five die daily due to unclean water and unsanitary conditions. In fact, the UN claims that five times as many children die around the world of diarrhoea as of HIV and Aids.

Impoverished city dwellers in high density areas and slums draw water from water sources — including rivers — where sewage is dumped.

This is not helped by the fact that city councils, due to shortage of funds, are failing to properly treat water for human consumption. At times the water that runs from taps would be replete with sediment and other impurities.

Cities go for days and other suburbs have gone for years with no single drop coming out of their taps. As if to show the lack of seriousness on the part of local authorities, residents in such suburbs continue to receive water bills.

We have had pronouncements by mayors and other city fathers, that they have no clue as to permanently deal with the water crisis. This is not only frustrating for residents, and if taken in the context of waterborne disease outbreak it spells doom for them.

Corruption and politics also compound the problem. Tenders for fixing water problems are awarded to cronies who fail to perform.

Residents end up with untreated or no clean water as a result. Local authorities are more concerned with their political survival than residents’ plight. Some people in local authorities are kept in there not for their competence but for political expediency.

Creative ways of ensuring the availability of potable water, such as reducing waste or investing in infrastructure to harvest rainwater,are needed.

The current signs we see due to the water crisis are symptomatic of worse things to come if the problem is not addressed.