Chinhoyi sitting on time bomb

On both sides are two imposing features of Chinese architecture, the Chinhoyi University of Technology to the right and the Chinhoyi Provincial Hospital on the left, interwoven with the beautiful Msasa trees — it’s a sight to behold.

That captivating sight is fodder for the eye and one to savour, but that is as good as it gets as the sense of sight, is soon overridden by that of smell.

It becomes a potpourri of competing senses, each registering what it picks up in the discourse of what it was designed to perform.

What jolts the senses is a strong stench which transcends the physical barrier born out of thorough engineering ingenuity calculated to shut out water and other unpleasant external conditions when one is travelling by car.

So powerful is the stench that one gets thinking as to what could convey such a putrid punch.

On the surface it is just a smell, but upon scrutiny of the underlying cause it emerges that the smell is a precursor to a sewer reticulation system that has gone horribly wrong.

A sewer system that has broken down and is unable to process what it churns out in terms of solid and liquid waste.

As you get to the flyover where the road gives way to rail, the smell gets even stronger signalling that you have come closer to one of the sources of this pungent smell.

Alongside the railway track is a perennial stream whose source is obscure as it is not fed by any river but runs from Mzari suburb meandering into Manyame River.

It is a stream of two tales but sustaining a greenbelt of reeds, banana and sugarcane plantations.

Upstream it carries pure water during the rainy season but as you go downstream, it is adulterated by untreated sewage that is being discharged from the moribund Fernlea treatment works.

The overgrown greenery of grass around the treatment works tells a story of a derelict and long forgotten centre of immense importance in the well-being of the town of more than 200 000 residents and the environment.

The Environmental Management Agency recently conducted an inspection of the town’s sewage treatment plants and the results were a red flag for every one of them.

The same conclusion was drawn for all four other plants Mpata plant, Chaedza and Hospital pump stations, Ruvimbo Phase 1 and Hunyani Farm treatment plant. Discharge from Chaedza and Hospital pump station has been certified illegal and not warranting any licence to fully comply with the country’s environmental laws.

To put things into perspective one needs to look at the abandoned state of the stations where not even an attendant can be found.

Sewerage which was supposed to go through a cleansing process finds its way into the Cold Stream — a name that has given birth to a suburb which goes by the same name — and directly to Manyame River hence the aforementioned smell.

Calling them pump stations is a misnomer as there are no longer any pumps and digesters to talk about, a classic case of neglect and vandalism.

To expect any remedy from a council that cannot even maintain two sets of traffic lights that are at vantage points in the linear set up of the town is expecting too much — Harare would have a field day with their vast number of traffic lights and a traffic jungle to match.

One set at the Harare-Chirundu Road intersection with the Chinhoyi-Chegutu Road has been down since 2006 and there is no indication in sight that they will be fixed.

That was a worthy digression but back to the sewer problems, a three-step treatment process has been reduced to a one way natural process by-passing mechanised systems that are supposed to make effluent safe for discharge into water bodies.

This has costly consequences to people downstream of Manyame River. A comment from EMA on the Hunyani Farm treatment plant reads: “The plant is dearly out of sorts, it is a sombre resemblance of what was. It is extensively vandalised and suffered the effects of years of absolute neglect”.

A historical perspective would suffice. The Chinhoyi sewer problems date back to around 1997 and successivecouncils and management have failed to conjure a formula and sustained response that would sweep the problem to the backwaters of history.

In July 2003, at least 16 people died and although not blatant, findings of the investigations pinned it to the attendant mismanagement of the town’s sewer system which subsequently led to contamination of drinking water.

After a recent tour of the town, Health and Child Welfare Deputy Minister Dr Douglas Mombeshora expressed concern on the state of affairs saying it was a recipe for disaster.

“From a health perspective, there is every reason to be worried because I have seen the situation at the treatment plants and it is disturbing. Raw sewage is being discharged into Manyame which is the lifeline of so many families,” he said.

He tasked the acting engineer Tsitsi Masekesa to draw up a budget so that funding could be sourced to address the sewer problems.

The engineer said council needed in excess of US$5 million to effectively deal with the problem.

Fears are that flies can contaminate food and water especially considering that residents have to scrounge for water as the town is unable to supply adequately while an upgrading exercise of the waterworks has taken forever with indications that the contractor has not yet secured the required pipes.

A report by EMA said the situation which has been carefully nurtured for about 11 years through inaction, called for greater stakeholder participation to stem the problem. “The state of the sewer system is evidently more appalling and hazardous now more than ever. Responsibility lies somewhere.

“However, the traditional blame game will not realise desired ends.

“Greater stakeholder participation is imperative if the potential health risk and environmental ruin is to be eluded,” reads the report.

EMA has blamed councils for “grandstanding” and being “inflexible” in dealing with the challenges.

Council was issued with tickets in May amounting to about US$1000 for their sins but they have not been honoured to date.

The environmental watchdog professed that council ignored the fines raising questions of enforcement because councils are not a law unto themselves. At this rate it would be difficult to expect them to be disciplined enough to enforce their own by-laws.

However, EMA has resolved to take councils head-on as it seeks to enforce compliance with environmental regulations which issues however, do not top the list of their priorities.

Councils have nothing to put aside for capital projects and infrastructure development after paying hefty salaries to staff and management. Councils will now have to go through the rigours of the court system to disabuse them of a laissez faire approach to environmental issues.

The problems of Chinhoyi are a microcosmic reflection of teething problems in Mashonaland West Province as Kadoma, Kariba, Chegutu and Karoi invariably face similar challenges.

Other local authorities across the country are also confronted with challenges of similar if not bigger proportions. Acting town clerk and chamber secretary Mr Abel Gotora said the council inherited dilapidated infrastructure from the Zimbabwe National Water Authority in March.

“We gave them infrastructure that was relatively functional but when we assumed control in March it was all dead. We are trying to mobilise resources so that we attend to the problem,” he said.

The Cold Stream might yet still flow for years to come bringing relief to the plants that are striving under a nourishing cocktail of human waste and unending supply of water for as long as people live, but the same people will have to live through intermittent outbreaks of diseases brought about by men’s violation of nature.

The pungent smell could yet be the signature of the town.

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