Harare residents will once again go for days without running water, after the city tomorrow shuts down the main water treatment plant, Morton Jaffray Waterworks, to facilitate for the installation of new pumps.
Acting corporate communications manager Mr Michael Chideme urged residents to store adequate supplies before the shut down and use water sparingly.
“City of Harare advises all its water customers that there will be a complete shut down of the Morton Jaffray Water Treatment Plant from Friday 17 June at 1700hrs to Monday 20 June at 0800hrs,” he said.
This is the latest of the many shut-downs that Harare has conducted to restore normalcy in water supplies.
“The shut down is to allow the scheduled installation of more new pumps at the water treatment plant under the ongoing rehabilitation programme.”
Mr Chideme said shut downs were necessary to improve water and sanitation across the city.
“The shut downs are meant to improve the efficiency of the water treatment plant which is currently operating below its design capacity,” he said.
“Over 70 percent of the work at Morton Jaffray has been done so far.”
Last month the city council said it was taking advantage of the winter season to complete all installations at the plant because water usage was at its lowest during that time.
Major maintenance works have been in process as part of the city’s implementation of the Harare Water and Sanitation Rehabilitation Project under a $144 million Chinese loan facility.
Upon completion of the project which began three years ago, the 60-year-old plant which is currently producing 400 megalitres of water a day is expected to improve to 670 megalitres.