Harare Council allays fears over water safety after sludge discharge in Kuwadzana

Municipal Correspondent

HARARE City Council has allayed fears over the safety of the capital’s water supply following the discharge of dark sludge in Kuwadzana Extension on Sunday, saying it was mainly residue from activated carbon used in the water treatment process.

The sludge flowed into the streets, raising concerns among residents about possible contamination and the safety of water being supplied to households.

However, the council’s acting director of water, Engineer Tapiwa Kunyadini, said the discharge was part of an ongoing exercise to clean the city’s reservoirs and remove accumulated residue.

He said activated carbon was used at the city’s water treatment works to remove unpleasant odours and other impurities.

“The issue is, as we are treating water at our treatment works, we use activated carbon. This is to remove any smells and other particles from the water and ensure that the water is clean,” Eng Kunyadini said.

“And this then leads to that carbon being carried over to our reservoirs, and which we routinely have to clean.”

Eng Kunyadini said the council was cleaning all 27 reservoir sites in Harare as it works to ensure that the city’s water remains potable and fit for human consumption.

“We have cleaned our water reservoirs in Harare. This is an ongoing exercise. We are going upstream to ensure that water is potable and is fit for human consumption,” he said.

He said the dark colour seen in the sludge was caused by carbon residues being flushed out during the cleaning process.

“What people have been seeing over the weekend and we are going ahead, as we are talking today, we are flushing any residues which accumulate in reservoirs, and the colour is due to the carbon which we are removing, to ensure that the water is potable, that is fit for human consumption,” Eng Kunyadini said.

He urged residents not to panic as the cleaning programme progresses.

Eng Kunyadini said the discharge into residential streets was, however, a result of blocked scour paths and drainage channels, which he attributed to unplanned structures and illegal activities around reservoir sites.

“The issue of the sludge going into the streets is a problem of unplanned structures which block where the scour path is supposed to discharge,” he said.

“Also people are doing illegal construction, illegal farming, and other activities around the city’s reservoirs.”

He said the council would reopen blocked drains and ensure residents know their locations so they could help maintain them.

“We will be going and then we’ll open the drain and make sure the citizens know where they are, and they can help us maintain those drains so that they are not affected,” he said.

Eng Kunyadini urged residents to desist from illegal activities around reservoirs, saying these could interfere with council operations.

“So, we want to put to rest any fears that people can be affected by the activities being carried out,” he said.

“What we are doing is we want to ensure that the water is clean, the water is fit for human consumption, and we see us working around Harare.”