Harare Residents Face Water Shortage

 

By Peta Thornycroft
 
Water rationing¹ has been imposed in Zimbabwe's capital, where water shortages have reached critical levels. Half the city's four-million residents are either short of water or have none at all.

Harare municipality says it is turning the taps off after 3:00 p.m. each day to conserve² water.

There is plenty of water in the dams feeding Harare, but the infrastructure³ taking it to residents is in a state of collapse⁴, according to official statements released to the state-controlled media during the past few weeks.

City officials say the Zimbabwe government has loaned $9 million to upgrade the infrastructure, but repairs will take time.

Several water purification specialists say the water that is available, which is recycled sewage, is not fit to drink because there is no foreign currency to buy and import chemicals to treat it.

Harare has been run by officials appointed by the ruling Zanu PF party almost continually since independence in 1980. But in 2002 residents won a marathon court case to allow them to hold local government elections.

Elias Mudzuri, a water engineer, won the 2002 mayoral election on an opposition⁵ Movement for Democratic Change ticket, and set about fixing the city. A year later he and most of the elected council, all MDC members, were sacked by the government.

Mr. Mudzuri says half the city's residents are either chronically⁶ short of water or have none coming into their houses at all.

In Mabvuku, a township 20 kilometers east of Harare, residents have broken open city pipes to get at water that is no longer pumped into their houses.

Scores of women were at the broken pipes Tuesday, collecting 20 liters at a time for drinking and washing. Others were digging in fields trying to find a supply.

Many survive because individuals have installed wells at their own cost.

Reason Chaurura has a small business in Mabvuku making concrete fences and bricks. He dug a 13-meter deep well, which is now the only source of water for many families in that part of the township.

"Women are coming here to get collect water because there is a water shortage here in Zimbabwe," he explained. "I think it is all over [the city] in many locations around us, there is this water shortage. This is a problem. So now we are giving women (water) freely, because it is a big problem."

Molly Suwidi a mother of three collects water every day from Mr. Chaurura's well.

"We have a problem; we do not have water so we come here to fetch water in the wells. Some wells charge nine-cents [$500 Zim dollars] per 20 liters," she said.

She said the sewage system at her house does not work because there is no water to flush the toilets, and her children are continually ill.

"We use the bush, but we do not pour water [down the toilet]. It smells because the toilets are in front of the kitchens. The [children] get diarrhea because they [use] the toilet without water, and we do not clean the toilets because we do not have water," she said.

In middle class areas, the situation is better because many people have installed tanks on their properties to store water between cuts in supplies. But for the vast majority of the city, finding water, is a never-ending process.

Peta Thornycroft, VOA News, Harare.

注释：
rationing 配给
municipality 市政当局
infrastructure 基础设施
purification 净化
marathon 马拉松式的
chronically 长期地
fences 围墙
sewage 下水道
diarrhea 痢疾
property 所有物

1 rationing   

n.定量供应

参考例句：

• Wartime austerities included food rationing and shortage of fuel. 战时的艰苦包括食物配给和燃料短缺。
• Food rationing was abolished in that country long ago. 那个国家早就取消了粮食配给制。

2 conserve   

vt.保存，保护，节约，节省，守恒，不灭

参考例句：

• He writes on both sides of the sheet to conserve paper.他在纸张的两面都写字以节省用纸。
• Conserve your energy,you'll need it!保存你的精力，你会用得着的！

3 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

4 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

5 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

6 chronically   

ad.长期地

参考例句：

• Similarly, any pigment nevus that is chronically irritated should be excised. 同样，凡是经常受慢性刺激的各种色素痣切勿予以切除。
• People chronically exposed to chlorine develop some degree of tolerance. 人长期接触氯气可以产生某种程度的耐受性。