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Paidamoyo Chipunza Senior Health Reporter

Harare City Council has started repairing pumps and other equipment at its malfunctioning public boreholes in compliance with a High Court ruling ordering it to provide safe and adequate water during the 21-day lockdown, but is unlikely to complete the refurbishments until a fortnight after the lockdown ends.

A schedule was released last Thursday for works in Glen View, Mabvuku-Tafara, Budiriro, Mbare, Waterfalls, Hatfield-Msasa Park, Dzivarasekwa, Mufakose, Highfield-Glen Norah, Kuwadzana-Warren Park, Hatcliffe, Mabelreign and Marlborough.

Repairs to most of the boreholes are expected to be complete within a month.

Visits by The Herald to some of the suburbs which normally experience erratic water supplies did show that most had piped supplies either the previous night or during the day, but no bowsers — the alternative recommended by the court to areas without water — had by then been deployed, Many residents were still crowding the few working boreholes.

Residents who spoke to The Herald appealed for more water points to decongest the few functional boreholes, as well as sanitisers or hand washing at each water point so people could clean their hands before pumping and wiping the handle after                                                                                                  use.

In other areas, residents have formed committees to oversee the use of the boreholes.

A member of one such committee in Hopley, Ms Tendai Chimbete, said one borehole served as many as 500 people per day, a large number because most of the boreholes in the area were not functioning.

Ms Chimbete urged the local authority to quickly repair all malfunctioning boreholes to decongest their borehole.

“I unlock the borehole as early as 6am, but by that time, a long queue has already formed,” she said. “The borehole is overwhelmed and it is difficult to control people under such circumstances. Sometimes, fights break out.”

Another resident, Ms Filda Maromo, appealed to relevant authorities to provide sanitisers or hand washing liquids, at each borehole.

“As you can see, many people use this borehole and as we pump water into our buckets we touch the force rod,” she said. “What this means is if one of us is infected, the whole community also gets infected.”

Apart from servicing all malfunctioning boreholes, the High Court ruling also compelled the local authority to provide mobile bowsers where needed and to ensure people at the boreholes adhered to recommended public health measures such as social distancing.

Chitungwiza Municipality has also been ordered to ensure that there is safe, adequate potable water for residents through the provision of water bowsers.

Through the Chitungwiza Residents Trust, represented by the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, the residents made an urgent chamber application demanding provision of safe and adequate water.

According to public health experts, people must wash their hands with soap for at least 20 seconds to kill the coronavirus or at least use an alcohol-based hand rub.

People are also encouraged to keep at least one metre from each other to prevent spread of the virus.

Some suburbs do not have constant supply of water, making it difficult to practise both measures.