Chris Mahove
Harare—Harare’s persistent failure to supply clean and reliable water has forced thousands of residents to depend on boreholes — a survival measure that now threatens the city’s underground water safety.
According to the Upper Manyame Catchment Council, the Manyame Upper Catchment Area has at least 35,000 registered boreholes, with tens of thousands more unregistered, especially in high-density suburbs.
Governance experts and activists warn that this uncontrolled drilling, coupled with erratic rainfall, is depleting groundwater and increasing the risk of contamination.
Groundwater pollution occurs when harmful substances seep underground from leaking sewers, landfills, agricultural chemicals or industrial waste.
Once contaminated, the water becomes unsafe to drink and damages surrounding ecosystems.
With no end in sight to Harare’s water crisis, experts are calling for shared or community boreholes to limit pollution risks.
Upper Manyame Sub-Catchment Council compliance manager, Peter Bonga, said the acute water shortages for potable water had led to increased demand for individual boreholes, leading to fear of ground pollution.
“There is no other option for residents to get clean water. Drilling of boreholes remains the only solution.
“However, drilling of too many boreholes in an area increases the chances of ground water pollution.
“We are encouraging residents to drill shared or community boreholes to reduce pollution,” he said.
Bonga said his organisation conducted free borehole tests twice during the dry season and once in the wet season to monitor water safety.
He added that only registered boreholes were tested, leaving thousands of unregistered ones unmonitored and potentially unsafe.
Bonga said climate change and construction on wetlands were worsening the situation.
“There is, therefore, a need for an all-stakeholder dialogue bringing together the Environmental Management Agency, City of Harare, the ministry of lands and other line ministries to discuss water issues,” said Bonga.
Community Water Alliance (CWA) director, Hardlife Mudzingwa, warned that Harare’s growing dependence on boreholes was placing unsustainable pressure on the city’s already fragile groundwater reserves.
“We have over-extraction because Harare was designed in a way that it is supposed to have water every day, not ground water.
“The number of piped water schemes and solar powered boreholes in the metropolitan province are beyond the sustainability of ground water resources, especially in the context of varying and changing climatic patterns,” he said.
“Go to Budiriro, which was a cholera hotspot and used to have water 24/7. Now they can go for two weeks without water.
“The same for Kuwadzana and Glen View which were supposed to get water 24/7 to deal with outbreaks. Residents are relying on ground water resources,” he said.
Mudzingwa further noted that ageing and poorly maintained sewer infrastructure was a major source of groundwater contamination in the city.
“The main contaminants of Harare’s ground water are burst sewer pipes. Harare has presided over obsolete sewer infrastructure for a very long period of time.
“The burst pipes have contributed hugely to the contamination of ground water resources in the metropolitan province,” he said.
He added that Harare’s only major sewer upgrade—during the 2008/09 cholera outbreak—was incomplete and failed to address structural challenges.
Harare Residents’ Trust (HRT) director, Precious Shumba, criticised city fathers for failing to act on long-known inefficiencies and corruption within Harare’s water distribution system.
“They consistently indicate that they are losing 60 per cent of treated water to leakages and illegal connections along the water distribution system (but) despite that knowledge and understanding. They have failed to prioritise plugging the leakages and enforcing their performance management processes to punish those implicated in facilitating the theft of council water,” he said.
Shumba added that while community boreholes had improved access to water, they did little to address the broader issue of underground water pollution.
“This, however, does not resolve the pollution of the underground water.
“It makes water available, thus contributing to the progressive realisation of the right to water.
“The City of Harare has to adopt modern technology to expedite the identification and repair of sewerage and water pipe bursts,” he said.