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Andrew Muvishi Mashonaland East Correspondent

The Environmental Management Agency (EMA) has raised concern over sewer bursts in Garikai suburb of Marondera and urged the municipality to repair the pipes to prevent further pollution of water sources.

Garikai residents have gone for years without running water and they rely on shallow wells.

EMA’s provincial publicity officer Mr Astas Mabwe said there was a high possibility that underground water could be contaminated and lead to outbreak of diseases.

“We have noticed that there is environmental pollution taking place at Garikai area and is likely to pollute underground water,” he said.

“All residents who reside there are likely to be affected by cholera because they draw their water from shallow wells.”

Garikai residents have been pleading with Marondera municipality to attend to the burst sewer pipes, as the situation was getting out of hand.

A resident, Mrs Grace Jani, said it had been a month since the sewage pipes burst in their area.

“It’s been a month and as you can see the situation is getting out of hand,” she said.

“The worst part is that raw sewage is flowing into our yards, creating a serious health hazard. We informed the city council, but they have failed to fix the pipes, as you can see, the sewage is still flowing.”

Mrs Jani pleaded with the municipality to repair the sewer pipes before residents were exposed to diseases like typhoid and cholera.

“As we speak, the sewage is flowing in many places,” she said. “There is rampant outburst of sewer and we are kindly asking them to come and repair the sewer pipes because this is likely to cause a serious outbreak of diseases.”