Councillors demand answers on sewer
Bulawayo councillors have raised concerns over wide spread sewer bursts in the city, demanding answers on the snail pace and often none responsiveness of council workers in responding to sewer burst reports by residents.
According to the full council minutes seen by community podium, councillors needed clarification on the reasons for the slow response to sewer bursts that could be a health hazard if not managed well.
Councillor S. Mutanda was concerned about the number of sewer bursts, that have been a persistent menace throughout the city and these sewer bursts are usually not attended to expeditiously after being reported. “Most of the raw sewer ended up flowing into people’s houses”, said Mutanda.
Another Councillor, L. Mlilo concurred with Mutanda by stating that Ward 14 had similar problems.
Councillor M. Dube said that there was need to educate residents with regards depositing objects into the system which contributes to sewer blockages.
Alderman C. Zana said the issue of sewage in the city had become a concern. According to Zana, Council had been relying on donors to deal with sewer bursts within the city and the local authority is now overwhelmed by sewer bursts. He revealed that “little effort” had been made to replace old pipes.
Councillor T. Ruzive felt that as Council there was need to prioritise sewer bursts. He reported that in his Ward 6, there was a pipe which was emitting raw sewer into the drains.
Councillor S. Chigora said that Councillors should come up with solutions on how to solve the sewer problems. At one time the issue of a local plumber had been suggested, but was not taken up. Sewers were bursting because there was no adequate water to push the sludge.
Chigora stressed that there was need to consider possible solutions and suggested that council should make a request from Government to recruit more plumbers.
Councillor S. Moyo felt that there was need to introduce a big flush and also consider doing awareness campaigns to educate residents on importance of the sewer system.
Councillor S. Sibanda noted that Council was no longer disinfecting the sewer burst areas after repairing the same.
Councillor D. Mabuto confirmed that there was serious sewer crisis within the city and sludge was not moving in the system because of lack of water. He added that there was need for Government intervention.
Alderman S. Khumalo said that there was a BWSSIP programme which was running at the moment. He bemoaned that there was no adequate water running in the system and residents were getting water from a bowser which was not enough to flush the system among other uses of the precious fluid.
He lamented that Government had promised that within three months the City would have sufficient water but to date the City remained in serious crisis.
Responding to the sentiments raised by the Councillors the Chairperson of the Committee, Alderman E. Rafomoyo explained that the department was short staffed and more plumbers would be deployed. Rafamoyo added that more water was needed to move the sewer because 75% of water consumed is used on the sewer system.
He went on to disclose a challenge in terms of equipment and in light of this, advised Council to appeal to the donor community for assistance. Rafamoyo said Council was not able to provide the chemical for disinfecting the sewer system due to lack of funds.
