You also know that when you pour it into a glass, some dark particles accumulate at the bottom making it scary to drink.And when you boil it, it turns a murky green on top, leaving one wondering, no doubt, how this is possible when water is supposed to be colourless.
I thought about the changing complexion of Harare’s water this week in the wake of the damning judgement by the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) on the way city council is managing its sewer system.
EMA’s findings against the Harare City Council can be a case study of how not to manage toxic waste. They reveal, in considerable detail, how the city council is wantonly releasing raw sewage into the environment from its numerous pump stations thereby contaminating water bodies that supply the city with drinking water. The judgement, made public two weeks ago, proves beyond doubt that the council is guilty of polluting the environment.
For those who doubt the city’s culpability, EMA is in possession of shocking videos whose content cannot be described in this column for fear of upsetting our readers at their breakfast table.
The result of these illegal dumping activities is the pollution of water bodies, prominent among them being Lake Chivero, which supplies the city with water.
No wonder Harare has been experiencing an upsurge in waterborne diseases such as cholera, dysentery and diarrhoea, and lately typhoid. EMA’s revelations prompted us to undertake our own investigations last week to establish the extent of the problem.
One of our journalists visited a council farm in Budiriro where she made an astonishing discovery: municipal cattle drinking from a stream brimming with sewage waste.
The journalist also came across vast fields of maize and vegetables that thrive on sewage water. (No prizes for guessing the source of the manure feeding the crop). On a shopping trip to Mbare for vegetables one Sunday, I saw mbambaira (sweet potatoes), some that had grown bigger than Environment minister Francis Nhema’s head.
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Upon inquiring about their unusual size, one tout whispered in my ear that they were grown on a sewage marsh. In the developed world, someone would have packed their bags from Town House in shame soon after the wanton sewage dumping on the environment was exposed.
But alas, the Muchadeyi Masunda-led council doesn’t appear to see any harm in pursuing practices that are disgusting to the people whose rates sustain their operations. If they did, they would have stopped the practice a few years ago when thousands of residents succumbed to the cholera epidemic.
We asked acting Town Clerk Prosper Chonzi to comment on our findings at the council farm in Budiriro and his response was an attempt to defend the indefensible.
“That our cattle drink the water is not a concern because that is part of the ecosystem, reason why we use final effluent to irrigate pasture,” he enthused glibly.
Chonzi’s reasoning can only expose the collectively warped mentality of the people that have been tasked with running council affairs on residents’ behalf.
Surely, who on earth thinks it’s perfectly ok for cattle, destined for our pots, to feast on our raw waste. Wild pigs are despised for doing exactly that.
The US$15 000 fine that council is supposed to pay for its crimes is peanuts considering the magnitude of the offence committed. Fines should be made stiffer to deter Harare and other local authorities such as Chitungwiza that are polluting the environment. Our environment needs to be preserved not only for the sake of future generations but for the sake of our health.
Releasing pollutants like sewage on the ground can do no good except to contaminate rivers and underground water sources. The dumping of sewage also fouls the places where we live.
The swamp between Belvedere and Rugare township is a blot on the landscape because of the concomitant mix of sewage and industrial waste.
Residents call the place Kumazai (the place for rotten eggs) because of the foul smell and the flies found there. There are many places that bear the same nickname, such as the area between Kuwadzana Extension and Mufakose.
Manyame River, close to Skyline Motel, after the toll gate along the Harare-Masvingo Road, is notorious for producing a foul smell. This river and other equally stinking streams that feed into Lake Chivero, have failed to jolt the council into action.
Council is also failing to collect refuse, resulting in the proliferation of illegal dumps in the city centre and residential areas.One needs only to go to Mbare’s crowded hostels to appreciate how bad the situation is.
Garbage, uncollected for years, is turning the suburb into a fly and rodent zone. Children oblivious of the dangers associated with such dumps, are often seen rummaging through the rubbish in search of anything …God knows what…
The city council is also failing to properly burn waste at its dump sites. It is also tragic that the council appears to have little regard for wetlands, the pristine, fragile and sensitive ecosystems protected by law. Some of these were preserved by city planners of yesteryear. Harare is now free for all — a city where anyone can build anywhere without any regard to the fragility of the environs.
As I write, there is a dispute over the location of a hotel near the National Sports Stadium in a wetland being built by the Chinese. The piece of land was commissioned by President Robert Mugabe in 1987 and set aside for growing indigenous trees.
Trees planted by heads of state during the Commonwealth Heads of State and Government in 1991 to symbolise an International Friendship Forest have already been cut to pave the way for the project despite opposition from Belvedere residents.
All this is the bad news that we have to grapple with in 2012. Knowing the culture of lawlessness and impunity that has taken root in Zimbabwe, we can only hope and pray that the mayor and his councillors will come to their senses and comply with EMA’s ruling.
A positive beginning would be to:Halt stand allocations and commercial development in wetlandsareas;Reverse planning permits and any development that has not commenced, and where development has taken place to submit a plan of mitigatory measures;Review all local plans to ensure compliance with the Environmental Management Act and to submit a report by February 10 as well as to secure Pomona dumpsite and stop the use of the decommissioned Golden Quarry and to.Publish in the press and on its notice boards a waste management plan which clearly outlines the dates, areas and times for refuse collection by 31 January 2012.Stop sewage dumping
These and other measures recommended by EMA can bring back the sunshine to Harare city.Otherwise Harare will turn into a real Kumazai.
