Projects set to ease water crisis
Sunday, 05 January 2014 00:00
Shamiso Yikoniko
Almost every country’s wealth and progress mainly stems from the three main natural
resources — people, land and water.
A country’s capacity to support its increasing population is strictly limited by the
availability of water and the extent to which the water resources are protected and
remain usable.
The availability of water determines agricultural, urban, industrial and mining
development. Zimbabwe is currently facing water quantity and quality problems.
Often the problems are attributed to rapid population growth, inadequate
maintenance of waste and water treatment plants coupled with poor institutional
frameworks. Rampant urban agriculture also results in the washing off of chemicals.
Most of the country’s water bodies are seriously polluted as a result.
The Zimbabwean Government has made efforts to improve the provision of water
and sanitation since independence. Water provision and sanitation services reached
about 85 percent and 68 percent respectively by 2000.
However, the rampant hyper-inflation that followed discouraged consumers from
paying for these services and subsequently the municipal and regional authorities
could not efficiently provide water and sewerage services.
This resulted in the deterioration of waste and water treatment systems as well as
water supplies. Mr Phineas Dohwe, a town planner with an independent firm of
designers, planners and technical specialists, said the only solution to avert the water
and sewerage crisis is to decentralise and facilitate economic activities in satellite
towns so as to reduce pressure on the major cities’ infrastructure.
“The problem is we are not considering forward planning, in as much as donors come
in with assistance we need to accept the fact that it is by their nature that cities will
continue to grow.”
In the immediate post-independence era, the focus of the Growth Point policy was on
rural areas water reticulation, construction of roads, sewage systems, electricity and
other community services
The degradation of Zimbabwe’s water and sanitation services in the wake of the
economic crisis was a key factor in the cholera outbreak that swept across the
country from 2008 to 2009.
Chitungwiza was the most affected by the disease outbreak and the donor
community poured in funds to resuscitate the dormitory town.
Recently, African Water Facility injected US$3 million towards a project designed to
rehabilitate the water supply and sewerage systems in Chitungwiza to avoid a repeat
of the 2008 cholera outbreak. Minister of Environment, Water and Climate,
Honourable Saviour Kasukuwere said it is gratifying that the AWF is living up to its
mission of mobilising water resources in Africa.
“The AWF provides a great opportunity to address the critical gaps that African
countries face in the provision of water and sanitation to many people by helping to
mobilise funds for major investment projects. Such projects are needed to ensure
water security in Africa,” said Honourable Kasukuwere.
“The benefits of a solid water infrastructure base for Africa are multiple and farreaching. These include significant health gains.”
While a framework for perfect water management exists in the country (Water Act,
1998), the situation on the ground does not reflect this common belief.
The report presented at the African Regional Workshop on Watershed Management
points out that, the reform process has not taken off as expected owing to a
combination of factors ranging from conflicting policies, weak institutional linkages
and insufficient funding.
The water sector reforms in Zimbabwe were largely donor-driven and several donors
pledged to support the reform process. However, by the time the Catchment Councils
were to be fully launched, only one donor remained available to support two of the
seven catchments, and that donor is in the process of withdrawing its support. A
number of stakeholders lost confidence in the whole reform process and they too
pulled out at a time the CCs were not yet financially self-sufficient.’
The co-ordinator of the AWF, Mrs Akissa Bahri hopes that the benefits and
successful completion of the Chitungwiza project would attract more donors into the
country for the revival of the water and sewerage systems.
“This project is very important as it will help Chitungwiza to recover from years of
poor water supply and sanitation services,” said Mrs Bahri.
According to Government estimates, 20 years after Zimbabwe’s 1980 independence,
overall water coverage had increased from 32 percent to 56 percent and overall
sanitation access had increased from 28 percent to 55 percent. Urban services had
achieved well over 90 percent coverage by the late 1990s.
However, there has been a decline since then, the exact extent is not known.
In a report compiled by AMCOW (2011), Zimbabwe’s experience of water and
sanitation sector development reflects the vulnerability of sector service development
built on state subsidies and donor finance without focus on sustainability.
However, a relatively swift recovery is possible given the favourable political
environment and the prioritisation of the sector.