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Blessings Chidakwa
Municipal Reporter
The section of Sam Nujoma Street near Belgravia Sports Club was closed yesterday after a water main burst, sending thousands of litres of treated water flowing to waste and forcing large numbers of motorists to find diversions along poor and potholed side roads.

Police officers were deployed to control the traffic and battled to bring the looming chaos under control, but Harare City Council spokesperson Mr Michael Chideme said the council was working on the burst main.

A council worker at the site gave the bad news that it could take up to five days to fix the leak and then refill and surface the trenches made to get at the leak.

“We may take between three to five days to replace the burst pipe,” said the worker. “There is the installation phase and monitoring for leaks, so it is quite a hurdle.”

A council water valve that was opened to reduce pressure from the main leakage resulted in water gushing out and flowing into residential and business premises around Belgravia Sports Club.

Congestion during peak hours is expected to continue on Sam Nujoma Street today until the pipe has been replaced or repaired and all the trenching refilled.

Despite Harare using about US$2 million for buying the essential water treatment chemicals monthly, pipe bursts are common and million of litres of treated water are lost every week, amid calls for the local authority to install new pipes.

Sunningdale residents recently spent a week without water supply after three main water pipes burst in the area.

Water flowed all over the place in Sunningdale 1 and 2 and some people were seen doing laundry in the streets using the flowing water.