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While the let-up in rains is good for her maize crop – essential for her family’s food security – the clearing skies spell disaster, as she has to contend with water shortages.
“We go for several days without water. We do not worry during the rainy days as we harness rain water,” she says.

She adds: “Now that the rains are gone, perhaps for this moment, we have to go back to the routine of walking some distances looking for water.”
The mother of three had a well at home but it has dried up and she now relies on well-wishers in the neighbourhood to give her water for home use and sometimes she walks 500 metres to the nearest source.
“My well is not very deep and dried up around September last year. I have to walk because that is where the water is,” she explains.
Mrs Murehwa’s case is typical of life in Harare’s eastern suburbs where water supplies have been erratic for years.
Many residents in Ruwa, Mabvuku, Tafara, Greendale, Kamfinsa, Chikurubi, Msasa as well as northern suburbs like Hatcliffe, among others cannot remember when they last got water from their taps.

In some of the areas donors have sunk boreholes to avert a repeat of the cholera outbreak which claimed thousands of lives in 2008 but the boreholes are often overwhelmed by the number of residents in need of water.
Apart from the daily labours and discomforts, a huge spectre of water-borne diseases lurks in these areas that bore the brunt of the cholera pandemic in 2008.

Already, Harare has recorded a typhoid outbreak, which thankfully has been contained so far.
Mrs Emily Tekere of Mabvuku told The Herald: “We are travelling long distances to go to the boreholes.
“It is even more tiresome because so much time is being spent there.
“Can you imagine a situation where a woman my age spends five hours in a queue? That is demanding.

“My children are always late for school because they cannot go there hungry. They always wait for me to come and prepare them for school. This situation is being made worse by shortage of plastic containers to store the water,” she said.
Another resident, Mrs Shamiso Matope, had no kind words for the Harare City Council.
“Council is sleeping on duty.

“Are they waiting for more water-borne disease outbreaks so that they can address the situation?
“Efforts by NGOs cannot go unmentioned because they have drilled many boreholes many of which are not working.
“If the municipality is failing to provide tap water they should at least make an effort to repair those boreholes,” she said.
Town planning expert Mr Percy Toriro blames the perennial water shortages in eastern and northern suburbs on rapid urbanisation and says the situation in fact could have imploded in the year 2000.

“The problem is on the geography: water supply sources in Harare are located downstream in the west and areas in the east and north are upwards and farthest.”
He said water woes in the north and east started around 1998, caused by a population boom.
He said planners had predicted that the city would run out of water in 2000, based on population studies.
“Then there were plans for alternatives where the Kunzvi project was mooted and tenders were flighted in 1996,” recalled Mr Toriro.

“However, there was bickering over the choice of the contractor – a British company – and the tender was finally withdrawn. Harare lost an opportunity here.”
The Kunzvi Dam project has remained in the pipeline.
Mr Toriro warned that the water shortages and attendant health concerns would persist until the authorities find an alternative water source.
The planner also urged the authorities to advise residents to conserve water in what he calls “water demand management”.

This is whereby residents use water sparingly so that there cuts in supply are minimised.
As leakages are also causing water supply challenges, Mr Toriro urged council to repair or replace damaged and aged water supply pipelines.
The Harare Residents’ Trust is upset at the state of affairs in the city.
Mr Precious Shumba, co-ordinator at HRT, laid the blame on Harare City Council and called for co-operation between Government and the city in finding a lasting solution to the problem.

Said Mr Shumba: “Firstly, the City of Harare has to acknowledge their failure to address this problem, something they have not properly admitted.
“As the Harare Residents’ Trust, our expectation is that the City of Harare removes the fixed water charges to all residents of Harare, and if they would phase the process, they have to prioritise the eastern and northern suburbs, which have remained dry. Water supplies are erratic, and in other areas just not available.

“The Ministry of Water Resources and the City of Harare have to sit down and address this problem. Residents in these areas continue to receive huge bills, yet have no water supplies.”
He attributes the problems to the neglect of water supply infrastructure.
He said: “The tragedy of Harare’s water problems is that the Government and the municipality have not prioritised rehabilitation and upgrading of the water infrastructure in the last 10 years.

“The water distribution infrastructure is mainly affected by the electricity shortages, again they need to devise a mechanism to ensure consistent power supplies, and water has to fill in the reservoirs along the way before residents can have access to it.
“It implies that the council and Government have to unite to establish a devoted line of water supplies to the affected areas.

“The option of sinking boreholes is ideal as a short-term measure but is not sustainable given that the local authority has not taken full ownership of the boreholes sunk by humanitarian agencies including Unicef.
“To safeguard the boreholes and ensure consistent water supplies, community water committees have to be established so that the residents, the direct beneficiaries of the water have a role to play in the maintenance of the boreholes and their safety against vandalism.”

With the state of affairs in Harare, it would seem that woes will persist – and it is down to one problem.
“The City of Harare does not learn from its experiences,” said Mr Shumba.
“The HRT is alive to the existing contradictions within the implementing arm of council and the policymakers. Their priorities are divorced from reality on the ground and they will remain steeped in populist and

short-term interventions that continue to expose residents to diseases.”
Harare City Council and Government are banking on the completion of the Kunzvi Dam Project to ease water shortages.

Last month, Government and the Kunzvi Water Development Corporation signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the construction of the Goromonzi dam.
A special purpose vehicle, Kunzvi Water Development Corporation has also been established recently to implement the project under a Build-Operate and Transfer arrangement.
Kunzvi is said to be capable of carrying 158,4 million cubic metres and produce 250 000 cubic metres of water daily.

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