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Conrad Mupesa–Mashonaland West Bureau

CHEGUTU Municipality has embarked on the installation of 1 000 prepaid water meters in the mining and farming town to improve service delivery.

The drive, which commenced last September, complements the local council’s plans of overhauling the water and sewer reticulation system.

Chegutu spokesperson, Mr Brian Nkiwane told The Herald that the move was aimed at billing residents correctly and reducing water leakages.

“We contracted a local company to install 1 000 meters last year in Wards 1, 2, and 3, and the central business district. It’s a continuation of the process as the contractor had put 400 meters and now finishing up the remaining 600 units. The reason we are installing these meters is that we want to charge residents for the water they would have used and it’s not proper to charge them unmetered water,” he said.

Most meters in the town are either old or damaged while some areas have never had meters installed. 

“We are moving in to replace all these and install new smart meters. Our aim is to improve efficiency through accurate readings for the correct billing. Going forward, we are moving to install these new meters in our Ward 8 water project so that by the time we commission it, the smart meters will be in place,” Nkiwane said.

The move is also meant to address challenges raised by residents emanating from estimated readings with some arguing they have gone for ages without running water. “This is a good move towards winning residents’ trust and at the same time improving revenue. Most households have for long not been receiving running water but were still being billed,” said a Chegutu resident, Ms Anashe Musunza.

The Zimbabwe National Organisation of Associations of Residents Trust (ZNOART) Mashonaland West chairman, Mr Liberty Chitiya commended the council saying the move brings reprieve to residents who are charged for the water that they do not access or use.

In 2018, the council was hit by a cholera outbreak which affected several people following the contamination of the clean water system by raw sewer.

In a bid to address the challenge, Chegutu dedicated financial resources released under the Government’s flagship, Devolution Funds to upgrade its sewer reticulation system.