Harare admits contamination of water

Zim Now Writer

The City of Harare has said allegations in the media that 15 boreholes in the city are contaminated by human faecal matter are false.

In a notice, the council said the tests that were done do not indicate that its human but, could be from other mammals as E-coli comes from both, a clear admission that there indeed is faecal contamination.

It also said, the council usually investigate the source of contamination and deal with it accordingly.

“The City Health Department did routine water quality monitoring of all water sources including boreholes, and municipal water in response to watery diarrhea outbreaks that were reported in some western suburbs and the water sampling implicated some boreholes used by those affected.

“Our water department regularly tests water at various strategic points in the distribution network, particularly water reservoirs and take corrective measures when residual chlorine is below set standard. Various zonal superintendents have regular stock of HtH issued from Morton Jaffray Waterworks for this purpose,” reads the notice.

The council also said the standard procedure is that any water source found contaminated from E-coli is disinfected with chlorine or HtH to make it safe.

In response to the tested boreholes, action taken so far by the council include; installation of inline chlorinator on borehole, distribution of non-food items such as aqua tabs and buckets, promoting point of use water treatment by use of aqua tabs, water guard and boiling, setting up and training of community Water Point Committees to manage the water sources, health and hygiene education dissemination on prevention and control of diarrheal diseases, intensified surveillance and response to alerts, and health and hygiene education dissemination on prevention and control of diarrheal diseases as well as intensified surveillance and response to alerts.