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Nokutenda Chiyangwa and Ropafadzo Ndangariro
SOME suburbs in Harare are experiencing serious water supply shortages, exposing residents to water-borne diseases like cholera. A snap survey by The Herald yesterday confirmed the situation. Some parts of the central business district (CBD) had no water yesterday forcing businesses to rely on boreholes.

Others are buying water.
“We do not use city council water at all here in Emerald Hill. We buy water. We are not getting council water,” said Mr Shingirai Chinwira.

In Highfield, a resident said at times they go for weeks without water.
“We are only getting water during weekends,” said Canaan Western resident.
The situation is the same in Marlborough.

“We no longer rely on council water anymore. When it comes, it is normally very dirty and I would not allow my family use it,” said Mr Claudis Onyimo.

Council spokesperson Mr Michael Chideme yesterday urged residents to take their grievances to council.
“Residents must come to the city council to lodge their complaints,” he said.
Mr Chideme said some problems were customer specific.

“There could be problems with pipe network to an individual property or to a number of properties that does not necessarily reflect a set up in an area. The problems are not universal per se but sometimes they are customer specific.

“Western suburbs are supplied water 24/7 and if they have challenges in their areas they should also go to the district offices.
“We have since decentralised our services to the districts so it is actually surprising that the same people report to the media about water but they are not interacting with council,” said Mr Chideme.