Harare's water supply unsafe

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Harare, Zimbabwe, 12/24 - Municipal authorities in the Zimbabwe Capital of Harare said Friday drinking water supplied by a government water agency in the city was unsafe for human consumption, sparking fears of widespread diseases. Harare City Council engineer, Michael Jaravaza, criticised the Zimbabwe National Water Authority for using inadequate chlorine in the treatment of water it supplied in Harare and surrounding towns. He said the water did not meet bot the World Health Organisation (WHO) and local Standards Association of Zimbabwe (SAZ) standards required for human consumption.

Because of this, some food manufacturing companies had threatened to stop production because of the poor water quality, which they feared could poison consumers, the engineer said. "Free residual chlorine is consistently low in the drinking water, viable counts of bacteria and coniforms continue to be present in the drinking water. Toxin-producing blue green algae is consistently present in the drinking water," Jaravaza pointed out.