By Loyd Matare
The Harare Metropolitan Residents Forum (HAMREF) has come out guns blazing, accusing the City of Harare of failing to provide safe drinking water while exposing residents to disease through excessive pollution of water bodies.
The forum, which represents 15 Residents Associations and Civil Society groups across Harare Metropolis, said water bodies such as Lake Chivero, Marimba and Mukuvisi rivers are choking with untreated sewage and industrial waste, leaving water security, biodiversity, and food production under severe threat.
In a bid to confront the crisis, HAMREF has launched the Save Lake Chivero Campaign, a community-driven initiative aimed at cleaning rivers and dams while legally challenging institutions and companies responsible for pollution.
HAMREF also accused statutory bodies such as the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) and local authorities of fueling environmental destruction by parcelling out ecologically sensitive land for housing and failing to enforce pre-treatment regulations for over 300 industries discharging effluent into rivers in violation of Section 59 of the Environmental Management Act (Chapter 20:27).
Addressing the press yesterday, Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) director Reuben Akili said the continued ban on fishing at Lake Chivero was clear evidence of unsafe water.
“For your own information, fish has been banned in Lake Chivero, and government has upheld the ban.
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“That should be an indicator to everyone that the water is of poor quality and seriously compromised,” said Akili.
He blamed both industries and local authorities for the crisis.
“There are two things here. Some of the pollution in Lake Chivero is due to non-functional sewer reticulation plants discharging sewage, but industries are also releasing dangerous chemicals into the same water,” Akili said.
“To worsen the situation, industries are actually charged less in water tariffs than residents. So industries pollute and, shockingly, they are subsidised in terms of water costs. It’s very worrying.”
On his part, Harare Residents Trust (HRT) director Precious Shumba accused the city of billing residents for poisoned water while ignoring its duty to protect wetlands and sewer treatment pastures.
“First, look at the sewer treatment plants. They are discharging partially treated and untreated sewer into streams that flow into Lake Chivero. This worsens the pollution situation,” said Shumba.
He said areas previously reserved for sewer pastures have been turned into housing stands, undermining water safety.
“If you visit Lake Chivero today, you will see the water…you can’t even touch it. And even the quality of water coming out of the taps at household level is terrible. Put it in a plastic container overnight and it turns bluish-greenish,” Shumba warned.
“The City of Harare bills residents for water consumption but is not addressing the factors worsening pollution in Lake Chivero.
“The primary responsibility of preserving and protecting the environment lies with EMA and the city as planning authority. They are abdicating that responsibility and waiting for emergencies to happen.”
Akili also accused ‘cheap’ penalties for polluters which he said were so minimal that industries prefer to pay fines than invest in pre-treatment facilities.
“Our findings show about 300 industries operate without pre-treatment facilities. Instead of complying with the law, they find it cheaper to pollute and pay fines every month,” Akili revealed.
