Zimbabwe’s capital runs dry, 2 million people affected

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Tempers flared on Tuesday as more than 2 million residents of Zimbabwe’s capital and surrounding towns found themselves without water after authorities shut down the main treatment plant, raising new fears about disease after a cholera outbreak while the economy crumbles even more.

Officials in Harare have struggled to raise foreign currency to import water treatment chemicals, about $2.7 million is needed per month.

Meanwhile, water levels in polluted reservoirs are dropping because of drought.

For residents who have seen shortages of everything from medicines to bread to petrol in recent months, the latest indignity brought weariness and disgust.

“The toilets at school are just too filthy, people continue using them yet there is no water,” said 12-year-old Dylan Kaitano, who was among many uniformed school children waiting in line at wells, some shoving in impatience.

“I didn’t go to school today because I have to be here.”

Everyone living in Harare is affected, City Council spokesman Michael Chideme said, as residents turned to other options such as bottled water.

He called it a dangerous situation because of the risk of water-borne diseases.

“It is a desperate situation,” Deputy Mayor Enock Mupamaonde told The Associated Press outside the closed treatment plant.

And more people are affected than thought, he said, estimating that another 2 million non-residents enter the city each day to use its services and conduct business.

At the Chivero reservoir, the city’s main water supply, plastic bottles, vehicle tires and algae floated in the shallow water which was green and emitted a choking, foul smell.

Zimbabwe’s capital now frequently records cases of diseases such as typhoid due to water shortages and dilapidated sewer infrastructure.

Some residents for months have been forced to get water from shallow, unsafe wells and defecate in the open, while children pick their way across fetid yards.

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