Some suburbs to go for 5 months without water in Harare - City council

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Harare City Council has released a tight water schedule that will see some suburbs, mostly western ones, going for days without water in the next five months. The city will be rehabilitating and upgrading its major water connections beginning January 23 up to May 31.

According to the council schedule, the most affected areas would be Budiriro, Glen View, Glen Norah, Mufakose, Marimba, Willowvale, Inkomo, Sublime and Norton.

“The City of Harare wishes to inform the residents of Harare and the general public of periodic disruptions in water supplies during the period 23 January to 31 May 2016,” reads a statement that accompanies the water schedule.

“A series of partial and complete shutdowns will be done to allow major rehabilitation works or connections into existing supply infrastructure to be carried out at Morton Jaffray Waterworks under phase 1 of the implementation programme. The works are aimed at improving reliability of water supply.”

From tomorrow up to Wednesday next week there will be partial shutdown at Morton Jaffray as the city will be installing valves on the main line to Lochinvar.

Areas such as Glen View, Glen Norah, Mufakose, Marimba, Willowvale, Sublime and Norton will go for two days without water. The upgrading of equipment for the Patterson Filters will take 120 days and would see a daily reduction in water supplies by 70 mega litres.

Between January 29 and February I, Morton Jaffray would be shut down completely for about 48 hours with old inter-connecting valves being replaced at the main lines to Lochinvar and Warren Control.

For two days, there will be low water pressure in the central business district and no water in Inkomo from February 5 to February 8 because of the installation of valves.

Kuwadzana Extension will endure two days without water between February 12 and 15 while from February 19 to 22 Morton Jaffray would be shut down partially and there will be a reduction in daily water supplies by 50 mega-litres for 48 hours.

Council appealed to residents to save water saying it “will do everything possible to ensure minimum water supply disruptions while at the same time giving the contractor space to conclude the tasks.”

Meanwhile, Harare City Council acting principal communications manager Mr Michael Chideme said council had extended the period of 30 percent discounts on all paid up rates and water bills to January 31.

“The city is also awarding a discount of up to 30 percent (on a sliding scale, depending on the amount) for the full settlement of all arrears for the period before 31 December 2014.

“To qualify for this award, ratepayers should settle the arrears on their account by 31st January 2016 as well,” he said.

Source-Herald