The African Water Facility Increases Access to Water Supply and Sanitation, Fights Cholera in Zimbabwe
CHITUNGWIZA, Zimbabwe, March 7, 2013/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- Funded by the African Water Facility (AWF) to the amount of US $3 million, the project designed to rehabilitate the water supply and sewerage systems in Chitungwiza will be handed over today to the Municipality of Chitungwiza, following the completion of the construction works.
This direct investment by the AWF will improve the hygiene, the health and social well-being of an estimated 350,000 people by reducing the incidences of water-borne and related diseases such as cholera and typhoid, through a system now better equipped to provide drinkable water and remove sewage from residential areas.
Chitungwiza has borne the brunt of cholera epidemics, and counts on this intervention to avert another outbreak, which has been severely plaguing the city since 2008.
Launched in January 2012 and completed in February 2013, the project is poised to help stabilise the deterioration in the provision of water and sanitation services in the Municipality of Chitungwiza, meanwhile enhancing institutional capacity for efficient and sustainable operation and management of the water supply and sanitation services.
“We give great importance to this project as a means to helping Chitungwiza quickly recover from years of poor water supply and sanitation service delivery and improve people's lives,” said Akissa Bahri, Coordinator of the African Water Facility. “It is hoped that the results will also contribute to building stakeholder confidence, catalysing donor resources and generating knowledge on transitional assistance in a post-conflict setting.”
The handover ceremony has been jointly presided over by Damoni Kitabire, Officer-In-Charge of the Zimbabwe Field Office for African Development Bank, and Councillor Mrs C.M. Makwara, representing the Mayor of Chitungwiza Municipality, and attended by local stakeholders and city officials.
Distributed by the African Press Organization on behalf of the African Development Bank.
Contact:
In Zimbabwe: Eskendir Alemseged, T. 263 4 752917, M. +263 4 774 112 497, [email protected]
In Tunis: Katia Theriault, T. +216 71 10 12 79, M. +216 95 99 13 90, [email protected]
About the African Water Facility (AWF)
The AWF is an initiative of the African Ministers' Council on Water (AMCOW) hosted and managed by the African Development Bank (AfDB), established in 2004 as a Special Water Fund to help African countries achieve the objectives of the Africa Water Vision 2025. The AWF offers grants from €50,000 to €5 million to support projects aligned with its mission and strategy to a wide range of institutions and organizations operating in Africa. Its three strategic priority activities are: preparing investment projects to mobilise investment funds for projects supported by AWF; enhancing water governance to create an environment conducive for effective and sustainable investments; promoting water knowledge for the preparation of viable projects and informed governance leading to effective and sustainable investments.
Since 2006, AWF has funded 73 national and regional projects in 50 countries, including in Africa's most vulnerable states. It has mobilised more than €532 million as a result of its project preparation activities, which constitute 70 per cent of its portfolio. On average, each €1 contributed by the AWF has attracted €20 in additional follow-up investments.
The AWF is entirely funded by Algeria, Australia, Austria, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Burkina Faso, Canada, Denmark, the European Commission, France, Norway, Senegal, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the African Development Bank. The AWF is governed by a Governing Council representing its 15 donors, UN-Water Africa, the AU via NEPAD, AMCOW and the AfDB. For more information: www.africanwaterfacility.org
ANNEX - PROJECT TECHNICAL SHEET
REHABILITATION OF WATER SUPPLY AND SEWERAGE SYSTEMS IN CHITUNGWIZA (2012)
The objectives of the project implementation were:
1. Improve access and availability of water supply to hard hit areas in the town particularly Seke;
2. Remove sewage from the residences of St Mary's, Zengeza and Seke Areas and dispose it away; and,
3. Improve Operation and Maintenance of Water Supply and Sewerage Systems.
The water component of the project:
Chitungwiza's water comes from the City of Harare and has been supplemented by shallow wells and deep boreholes. The daily consumption of water ranges between 30 to 45Ml/day. Water pricing is on a sliding scale but averages $0.38 per m3. Residents receive water at least once per week but most have not been paying for the service citing poor service delivery. The proportion of people receiving water is under 50% and water availability is between 50% and 60%, and is worse in the Seke Area.
The municipality has a 95% piped network coverage with a conveyance capacity of 40Ml/d. Yet, some housing areas are not connected to this piped network system. The municipality has a storage capacity of 47Ml and bursts of the pipelines is frequent.
The project was able to address the problem of water availability and access in Seke by drilling 10 boreholes of which 5 were successful and were equipped with Type B bush pumps. Control facilities used for water demand management were also attended to.
Sewerage:
Chitungwiza's sewage is treated at the Zengeza sewage treatment works (Zengeza WWTW) which comprise a 36Ml/d conventional works built in the 1970s and a 20Ml/d Biological Nutrient removal (BNR) plant built in the late 1990s with Japanese aid. Both treatment plants are currently not working.
About 90% of the municipality has piped sewerage reticulation. The pipes are of various materials and in different states of functionality. Some of the new infill housing developments and low lying areas do not have a piped reticulation system. Current estimates of generated sewage is +-35Ml/d. The sewage from (St Mary's) constitutes about 15% of the municipality sewage. There is a ridge between St Mary's and the sewage treatment works. In order to get the sewage across this ridge, it is necessary to pump the sewage to a point from which it will gravitate to the Zengeza WWTW. The rest of the sewage from Zengeza and Seke reticulates in pipes of sizes ranging from 150mm to 900mm in diameter and reaches Zengeza WWTW by gravity.
Blockages and overflows have been an everyday occurrence. These blockages have been caused by a myriad of reasons ranging from sand accumulation to undesirable debris in the sewage such as newspapers, plastic bags and others.
This project has been able to address all three specific objectives as mentioned earlier. The issues of blockages and sewage overflows in some of the badly affected areas such as along Roundabout to Post Office Road, Hombarume, Rufaro and Dumukwa junction, Ruzvidzo and Chiratidzo roads have been delt with by replacing the affected dilapidated sewers by installing new house collector sewers. Sewage in St Mary's is now being directed to the three rehabilitated pump stations 1, 2 and 3 and being pumped away from the residences to the sewage treatment works at Zengeza 5.
Municipal workers in the water and sewage departments were trained in sewerage system management including the operation of the pump stations and the maintenance of the sewerage reticulation system including sewer replacements involving pipe laying and connections to existing services. As part of capacity building, the municipality received a backhoe loader, 110kVA power generator and 5.5km of pvc water pipes (50mm to 400mm diameter), valves and fittings to be used in the replacement of aged pipes and accessories.