According to UNICEF, more than 60 per cent of Zimbabwe’s rural water supply infrastructure is in disrepair. Urban water services have also deteriorated, leading to widespread inconvenience for the residents of high-density suburbs, and even outbreaks of cholera.
Mobile Community Zimbabwe has given residents of areas affected by the water crisis the tools to bring us a first-hand look at what life is like when accessing clean water is a bit more difficult than turning a tap in your home.
In Harare, residents sometimes rely on makeshift boreholes for their water. They spend long hours in a struggle to gather the supply they need for daily use.
In Bulawayo, a program known as “water shedding” was enacted by the municipality in 2012. Water supplies were cut off for 72 hours a week after some of the city’s supply dams ran out of water.
In rural areas, degrading infrastructure is leading to serious threats to the well-being of residents, like this failing dam in Gwanda:
In Kariba, the water supply problems are hurting families.
Access to water is a topic that is of great local concern to Zimbabweans, but is hardly examined by international media and which government-run media have an interest in covering up. We hope that tools like StoryMaker and projects like Mobile Community Zimbabwe can fill the gap in coverage. For more great local coverage of Zimbabwean issues, check out MCZ.
© 2013 Small World News