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Innocent Ruwende Municipal Reporter
Harare City Council is set to start drawing water from Lake Manyame after replacing a faulty valve that was preventing the city from accessing water from the dam.

The latest development is expected to improve the capital’s water quality.

The city used to get 60 percent of its water from Lake Manyame until the valve in question became dysfunctional forcing it draw the bulk of its water from the highly polluted Lake Chivero.

Residents have on several occasions expressed dissatisfaction with the quality of water they are getting from the city.

During a tour of Morton Jaffray Water Works by the Chinese Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mr Huang Ping, Harare Water director Eng Christopher Zvobgo last Friday said the weekend shutdown of the water works was to enable the city to install a valve which will enable council to draw water from Lake Manyame.

“We want to link them again (the dams) but the valve is not working. We cannot use Lake Manyame now. The water in Lake Manyame is much better. When we blend the water from the two dams we come up with better water. That is how the situation was before the valve stopped working. We get 60 percent from Manyame and 40 percent Chivero,” said Dr Zvobgo.

Harare City Council supplies potable water to the city and the surrounding local authorities of Chitungwiza, Epworth, Ruwa and Norton town councils

The city and its Chinese partner, China Engineering and Mechanization Company, are implementing a rehabilitation of Morton Jaffray Water Works and other plants as well as sewer works under a $144 million loan facility from China Exim Bank.

Scholars and researchers have in the past attributed the water quality and quantity problems faced by Harare to rapid population growth, inadequate maintenance of the water and waste water infrastructure treatment, use of expensive technologies, poor institutional framework, and rampant illegal urban agricultural practices which result in washing off and leaching of nutrients and siltation of lakes.

Analysts say the city should be moving to create new and cleaner water sources if it is to reduce its purification bill and the overall cost of water production.

Water purification gobbles up to $3 million monthly, an amount council says is unsustainable and has forced Harare to shelve other development projects.