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Manicaland Correspondent
The District Development Fund (DDF) has started rehabilitating boreholes in Chimanimani and Chipinge, which were affected by Cyclone Idai.

Last week, DDF toured various roads, bridges and boreholes which they were assigned under the Cyclone Idai reconstruction project.

Speaking during the tour, provincial hyro-geologist Mr Innocent Manyonga said efforts were underway to ensure that all communities had access to safe water as soon as possible.

“Our first response was to identify the water sources which were affected by the cyclone,” he said. “Most of the boreholes had been flooded with dirty water that was accompanied with mud, silt and faecal matter. So, there is need to flush the boreholes to enhance the quality and quantity of water.”

Mr Manyonga said three boreholes had so far been flushed and repaired out of the 22 they were working on, adding that by June 12, all the boreholes should be restored.

Mr Manyonga said flushing of boreholes is a process that involves the cleaning of any extraneous material inside that may contain contaminants.

“After flashing the borehole, we will replace worn out pipes be it cylinders and other pipes with new ones. We will also rehabilitate the sanitary sill so that the water from the borehole is not contaminated at any point,” he said.

“We have deployed three rigs to do the flushing and other work related to the cyclone disaster and another rig is waiting to be deployed to Chimanimani for the same work.”

Village health worker Ms Tsitsi Manyange said the community at Mupererezu had been relying on unsafe water sources for survival.

“This borehole has been our water source sustaining more than 200 villagers in this community and when it was condemned by the health department our lives became difficult,” she said.

She said most of the villagers had to walk more than three kilometres to Odzi River to fetch water.