A health bomb is brewing in Kwekwe with revelations that sewage infrastructure for City of Kwekwe is obsolete.
“Kwekwe city has four sewer pump stations and none of them are functional. That means all of the raw sewer in Kwekwe is flowing into Sebakwe river where we get our drinking water. It’s a very dire situation. The city now needs more chemicals to purify the water and the more chemicals used means the burden goes to tax payers to buy more chemicals,” this was publicised by Environmental Management Agency (EMA) Kwekwe District head Denis Magombedze.
He said this whilst addressing journalists at a public meeting organised by Zimbabwe Union for Journalists (ZUJ) in Kwekwe recently.
Magombedze said that the pipes being used currently are from the Smith era and were not meant to cater for large populations and cannot cope.
“In as much as we might point fingers and say Kwekwe City council isn’t doing enough as residents we are not helping the situation. Some are using kitchen sinks for gravity separation when looking for alluvial gold. This then forms a crusting that reduces the diameter of the pipes. Vandalism is another factor affecting the water and sewer situation in Kwekwe. There have been a number of thefts of transformers at pumping stations and residents are vandalising sewer and water pipes so as to water their gardens. We need to be responsible as citizens,” Magombedze added.
Despite these challenges and the current cholera outbreak plaguing Zimbabwe, Kwekwe has not had a case of cholera.
Kwekwe District development Coordinator (DDC) Fortune Mapungu confirmed this.
“There has not been any cholera cases recorded in Kwekwe so far; we have taken measures to protect residents. Kwekwe is one of the few cities in Zimbabwe that has running tap water. We have activated our District Protection Unit (CPU) and we are running awareness programs because we believe prevention is better than cure. All community health workers are on the ground teaching our residents about cholera,” said Mapungu.
He went on to say they have since identified cholera hotpots in Kwekwe which include places where food is sold yet there are no proper ablution facilities and Redcliff.