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Herald Reporter
Most suburbs in Harare will run without water between Friday and Monday next week following a complete shutdown of Morton Jaffray Water Treatment Plant to repair valves and pipes. The city urges residents to store bulk water for critical use in light of the scheduled shutdown from May 6-9. The shutdown will affect all of Harare’s institutions and suburbs except for a few places, which include Chitungwiza, parts of Mbare and parts of Sunningdale that use Prince Edward Water Treatment Plant.

In an interview yesterday, Harare City Council spokesperson Mr Michael Chideme said residents and especially key institutions such as hospitals and schools in the city would be affected by the shutdown of the Morton Jaffray Water Treatment Plant.

“We urge residents of Harare especially key institutions to store water in bulk because the whole city will be affected by the shutdown. “We will provide key institutions with water through water bowsers, but we urge them to store water and avoid the risk of completely running out of the precious resource.”

Mr Chideme said the shutdown of the Morton Jaffray waterworks was meant to allow for the installation of valves at the mixing chamber and suction of and delivery valves for the pumps 11 to 14.

Mr Chideme said the rehabilitation of the Morton Jaffray waterworks treatment plant was part of Harare Water and Sanitation Rehabilitation project, which was currently being implemented by the city through funding provided by the $144 million loan from China.

Work on the project began in 2013 and is fronted by the Chinese contractor, China Machinery and Engineering Corporation (CMEC), which has already completed various works related to the project.