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Daniel Nemukuyu Senior Reporter
Government has managed to provide safe sources of drinking water to the majority of the people, with at least 75 percent of Zimbabweans enjoying access to clean potable water in cities and rural areas.A senior Government official yesterday said the development was key to the country achieving the Millennium Development Goal on clean water for all.

The statistics are contained in the 2012 National Census Report released recently.

At least 96 percent of households in Bulawayo had access to safe water, while Harare recorded 94 percent.

These provinces were followed by Manicaland (74), Mashonaland East (72), Matabeleland North (71), Mashonaland West (69), Matabeleland South and Midlands (both 67), and Mashonaland Central and Masvingo (64).

The report revealed that only 21 percent of the households in Zimbabwe were still drawing drinking water from unprotected wells, dams, rivers and streams.

It also showed that 68 percent of households in the country had toilets of some sort, while a small percentage had no ablution facilities at all.

Environment, Water and Climate Deputy Minister, Engineer Simon Musanhu, yesterday said the statistics were encouraging.

“The development is in line with the Government’s objectives in its economic blueprint, the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Social-Economic Transformation.

“Zim-Asset lists water management and sanitation as a core objective, and within this scope the State will oversee construction of related infrastructure – including dams and conveyance systems.

“The majority of households in Zimbabwe now have access to clean and safe water and it is a positive development as we strive to achieve the millennium development goal of providing safe water to everyone,” said Eng Musanhu.

He said there was much work needed to ensure remaining areas had access to clean and safe water and sanitation facilities.

“Although the statistics are encouraging, we are not yet there,” he said. “We need to work harder to get to a stage where everyone will have access to clean and safe water.”

The report shows that 18 percent of all the households in the country had piped water inside their houses, while 15 percent had piped water outside their houses. Some 38 percent accessed water from boreholes and protected wells, while four percent drew from communal taps. Another 21 percent used unprotected wells, rivers, streams and dams.

Information on sanitation revealed that 33 percent of households countrywide used flush toilets, while 22 percent used the Blair variety and 13 percent used pit latrines.