Morton Jaffary Water Treatment Plant has no capacity to
supply water to Harare residents since
it was built for a population of 300 000
as compared to the 1,5 million people currently living in Harare.
This was said by the Chinese company CMEC contracted to
work on the rehabilitation of the Morton Jaffray waterworks in an interview
with The Herald yesterday.
CMEC Mr Cao Yang, project executive director, revealed that
solving the water problem of the City of Harare was a complex issue that
required different corrective measures to be taken.
‘‘The Morton Jaffary water plant was built more than 60
years ago to meet the water demands of the city of 300 000 to 400 000
population at that time. However, due to urbanisation the population of the
city has considerably increased and even if Morton Jaffray was working at full
capacity it would still not be able to meet the current water demands of the
city,’’ he said.
‘‘Solving the water problem of the City of Harare is a very
complex issue that requires many different corrective measures to be taken.
This project was not intended to solve the entire water issue for the City of
Harare but simply to replace the old equipment of Morton Jaffray and other
existing old stations so that they can be restored to working order for the
next 20-30 years,’’ he said
Most suburbs in Harare have gone for more than six months
without water owing to rationing measures that council introduced to allow for
the completion of the upgrading of the plant, some 30 kilometres from Harare on
the Harare-Bulawayo highway.
‘‘The City of Harare lacks funds and foreign currency to
purchase water treatment chemicals and thus Morton Jaffray water plant cannot operate at full capacity
as it can only produce about 100 000 tonnes of water per day,’’
‘‘Due to the shutdown of Prince Edward water plant because
of the drought, the water produced by Morton Jaffray needs to be supplied to
Chitungwiza and other areas too which were supposed to be covered by Prince
Edward water plant,’’ he added.
‘‘The water pipes from the Morton Jaffray water plant to
the pumping stations in the City of Harare are old and corroded resulting in
leakages and loss of water in the supply chain. Lake Chivero has been heavily
polluted and a solution to this problem is a matter of urgency,’’ said Mr Yang.
Pollution at Lake Chivero has pushed the cost of chemicals
as more treatment chemicals would be required thereby increasing the strain in
costs to City of Harare.
“A big risk exists if we leave the lake unprotected from
dumping of any poisonous substances making the situation very dangerous,” he
said.
Mr Yang also said
the issue of clean water in Harare is an emergency priority hence there must be
a collective unity of purpose from all stakeholders to avoid a health disaster
which he said was already looming adding that the Warren control pump station
also needed urgent attention.
‘‘I would also like to emphasise that the outstanding works
in Warren Control pump station cannot be completed due to the shortage of
funds. Warren Control pump station has significantly depreciated and is now
obsolete and broken down. This causes a high risk on its usage as it may
collapse at any time. Taking this into account, rehabilitation work at Warren
control pump station is of utmost importance to avoid any looming disaster.
Clearly, a collapse of Warren control will be a catastrophe for greater Harare,
due to water shortages in the whole city,” he said.
Among the hardest hit suburbs are Chitungwiza, Warren Park, Hatfield, Nnfield, Tafara,
Mabvuku, Kuwadzana and Budiriro. The crisis has driven residents to resort to
few boreholes and unprotected wells which posed a public health risk.
CMEC has had a presence in Zimbabwe since 2007, and to date
the company has implemented three livelihood projects in the agriculture, water
and health sectors with a total value of US$443 million.
In 2010 an agreement was signed for the development and
rehabilitation of municipal water works for the City of Harare valued at US$144
million for rehabilitation of Morton Jaffray water plant, Warren Control pump
station, New Alex Park and Alex Park pump station, Letombo pump station, Firle
sewage plant, Crowborough sewage plant, Borrowdale sewage distribution pump
stations and supply of laboratory equipment, water treatment chemicals, valves,
ICT equipment, construction equipment, etc. In addition, another agreement was
signed with the Ministry of Health and Child Care for the supply of medical
equipment. Both projects commenced in 2013.
Speaking soon after the familiarisation tour of Morton Jaffray
water treatment plant, Crowborough and Firle sewage waterworks, recently
Minister of State for Harare Metropolitan Province Cde Oliver Chidawu said that
the water situation in Harare needed urgent attention.
“The situation is dire. It needs urgent attention. As you
can see, 80 percent of raw sewage is flowing into the lake.
“We need to manage the authorities as a ministry so that
people will get the best from the council,” he said.
He also emphasised the need to treat water for human
consumption. “Water coming out of the pumps is very dirty and it needs
(chemical) treatment (to make it potable) Herald
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