Lake Chivero toxic: Harare Mayor

Ndaka Majaka

HARARE Mayor, Herbert Gomba has admitted that the city’s main water supply, Lake Chivero, is toxic.

Gomba said while this is the case, the city will not decommission the water source as that would be disastrous.

“Decommissioning Chivero would be disastrous as it would mean the city will not have any water,” the mayor said.

Gomba added that a second water source for Harare was long overdue as plans to construct Kunzvi Dam have been in the pipeline for over three decades.

This comes as the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) said Harare is
dumping about 539 mega-litres of raw sewage daily into Lake Chivero, exposing residents to water borne diseases such as cholera and typhoid.

A survey by EMA has revealed that city and town councils in Zimbabwe are
largely to blame for water pollution in major dams and Harare tops the list, with Bulawayo being the second largest polluter, discharging 13 mega-litres of sewer effluent per day into water sources. Mutare, Masvingo, Gweru and Chegutu are also among the culprits.