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Municipal Reporter
Harare residents must brace for a dry weekend as the city shuts down its main water treatment plant at Morton Jaffray today to allow contractors to install bulk production flow metres.
The city’s corporate communication division said the city was also carrying out plant maintenance and repairing leakages on the transmission mains. “Harare City Council would want to advise Harare residents that there will be a temporary shutdown of Morton Jaffray Water Treatment Plant from Friday 10 October at 2200hrs to Saturday 11 October 2014 at 1800 hrs.

“The temporary shutdown is to allow contractors working on the water treatment plant to install bulk production flow metres,” said the corporate communication division.
The bulk production flow metres will enable council to know the amount of water being pumped to residents at any given point.

The non-revenue water for Harare currently stands at 60 percent, comprising physical and commercial losses.
Physical losses refers to water that is produced and pumped, but does not get to the people while commercial losses comprise water that is consumed but is not properly billed, or even billed at all.

Last year council secured a US$144 million loan from the Chinese Export Import Bank and has used part of the money to acquire equipment for the refurbishment of the 60-year-old plant. The plant produces 400 mega-litres of water per day, but it has the potential to produce 640 mega-litres.

The upgrading of the plant will plug leaks on pipes connected to the water treatment. The rehabilitation of the plant is expected to increase output from the current 400 mega-litres of water to 640 mega-litres.

The 42 percentage increase, the city engineers say, will bring water to perennially dry parts of the city such as Mabvuku and Borrowdale.