| |
Back to Index
ZIMBABWE:
Gains in water and sanitation provision eroded
IRIN
News
September
22, 2004
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43305
HARARE - Zimbabwe is preparing
to host a Southern African Development Community (SADC) Water Resources,
Sanitation and Hygiene Fair (WARSH) in the midst of a water and
sanitation crisis.
The capital, Harare, has been experiencing ongoing disruptions to
its water supply, while borehole use in rural areas has been reduced.
The SADC fair, from 23 to 25 September, aims to promote cooperation
between members in water and sanitation matters and assess progress
made towards reaching the Millennium Development Goal (MGD) of halving
the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water and
basic sanitation by 2015.
According to an MDG Mid-Term Assessment for the period 1990 to 2002,
released in August, Zimbabwe improved its water accessibility to
83 percent and its sanitation coverage to 57 percent during this
time.
However, a UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) report for 2003 noted that
recent environmental disasters, such as cyclones and drought, coupled
with internal migration caused by the country's fast-track land
reform programme, had eroded progress made in the extension of these
basic services.
Thousands of people in rural areas were, consequently, without access
to safe water and sanitation, leaving them open to epidemics of
cholera and diarrhoea, as well as skin and eye infections.
The situation has been worsened by the national economic downturn,
which has eroded the capacity of communities to run and maintain
their water supply systems to such an extent that an estimated 50
percent of systems are non-functional.
According to the MDG assessment, water access in rural Zimbabwe
in 2002 stood at 74 percent. However, in areas where over 300,000
families have been officially resettled as part of the land reform
programme, access to safe water is estimated to be as low as 11
percent, and basic sanitation at below one percent.
The rehabilitation of water supply and sanitation systems in these
areas needs to be prioritised, UNICEF spokeswoman Shantha Bloemen
told IRIN.
Although the MDG assessment report put access to safe drinking water
in Zimbabwe's towns and cities at 100 percent in 2002, urban areas
were increasingly threatened by water shortages, largely because
a lack of foreign currency has made it difficult to purchase water
treatment chemicals, or replacement parts for ageing equipment.
Many parts of Harare have had to endure water cuts for long periods,
forcing residents to obtain water from unprotected sources. Although
the government has taken over water management of the capital from
the city council, according to official sources recapitalisation
of Zim $49 billion (about US $8.7 million) would be required to
rectify the situation. Analysts say it may be some time before any
sense of normality is restored.
Nowhere have the effects of the crisis been more keenly felt than
in government schools, where water rationing, coupled with unaffordable
water bills caused by the rising cost of water and leakages in obsolete
equipment, has brought a number of schools to the brink of closure.
Although schools may charge levies for operational costs, they are
not mandatory and many parents either are unwilling or unable to
pay them.
As a more sustainable solution to the water problem in the 287 urban
government schools, UNICEF has suggested the rehabilitation of old
boreholes or drilling new ones, as well as training the school community
in water conservation and management.
"This would keep any costs down and release the schools from the
burden of having to raise enough in school levies to meet the cost
of water bills. Instead, these funds could be channelled into other
urgently needed education materials, such as textbooks and stationery,"
Bloemen said.
Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.
TOP
|
