Staff Writer
Residents and the business community in Mashava and Chivi areas are facing water challenge after ZESA disconnected water electricity supply as the authority is being owed ZWG 2,9 million by ZINWA.
This was confirmed to The Blast, by ZINWA stakeholders relations officer, Tsungirirai Shoriwa.
Shoriwa said urged stakeholders including government departments to pay up their arrears so that the authority can be able to service the debt and pay for critical services.
Shoriwa said two weeks ago, ZINWA had closed water supplies as a precautionary measure following reports that water in the upstream of Shashe river, had been contaminated.
“The Zimbabwe National Water Authority wishes to advise that the current water supply challenges in Chivi and Mashava over the past week are a result of a power disconnection by ZETDC over an outstanding debt,” said Shoriwa.
“In the prior week, ZINWA has stopped supplies to the two centres as a precautionary measure following reports of contamination of Shashe River upstream of their raw abstraction points.
ZINWA owes ZETDC ZWG 2, 9 million in respect of the two stations. The Authority has however, been unable to service the debt due to depressed revenue inflows emanating from the non-payment of water bills by water users who include Government departments, domestic users, businesses, schools and institutions.
“Whereas ZINWA and ZETDC are in constant and progressive engagements, ZINWA strongly appeals to water users, whose accounts are in arrears, to settle their water bills so that the Authority can, in turn, secure critical inputs for water provision such as electricity, fuels, spares and water treatment chemicals.
“The Authority wishes to restate that there exists a strong relationship between payment for water bills and service delivery,”he added.
The disconnection of water supplies has affected residents in Mashava’s Bere township, Chivi growth point and surrounding areas.
Mmm it’s becoming hard for us as residents when there is no water