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Walter Mswazie in Masvingo
Mwenezi East is facing acute water shortages amid reports that at least 60 percent of the boreholes are now dry.

The area’s legislator, Cde Josbi Omar, told The Herald yesterday that the situation was dire and had affected most key institutions including schools and primary health centres.

He appealed to the District Development Fund (DDF) to consider drilling more boreholes and rehabilitating others that have broken down.

“We have serious water shortages in Mwenezi East constituency,” said Cde Omar. “About 60 percent of the boreholes in our area have dried up.

“You will note that most boreholes which were drilled in the district are not very deep and during the dry season the water table tends to decline.

“Some (boreholes) are less than 30 metres deep. In other areas, like at Neshuro District Hospital, there are boreholes drilled by POSB in 2016 which are drying up and no longer dependable. This is affecting health service delivery at this institution.

“Our greatest fear now is that we may be hit by water-borne diseases in some areas, where the shortages of the precious liquid is very pronounced.”

According to the legislator, even those families settled at Chingwizi, who were evacuated from Tugwi-Mukosi Dam in Chivi at the height of floods in 2014, were also facing similar problems and relied on unsafe water from    rivers.

“We also have families settled at Chingwizi — about 3 000 of them — who are in a crisis. The boreholes are either dry or broken down.

“This also applies to Chingwizi Clinic whose three boreholes are also dry and villagers are now taking turns to supply water in wheelbarrows. This kind of set-up is not sustainable,”said the legislator.

Masvingo Provincial Administrator Mr Fungai Mbetsa said Government had already started rolling out a programme to rehabilitate boreholes in Chingwizi and Chivi in the wake of the El Nino-induced drought.

“Government has a programme of drilling quite a number of boreholes in Masvingo Province. Chingwizi area is on the province’s priority list and will definitely benefit from this programme,” he said.

It is understood that water levels in most major dams countrywide have gone down and most local authorities have introduced water rationing, to manage the situation.