Water crisis hits Hurungwe District

By Rutendo Chigiya

HURUNGWE – VILLAGERS in Nyangoma Village 7, Hurungwe Rural District Council, Ward 6, in Hurungwe East Constituency face serious water challenges and drink water from Jeche River due to inadequate safe sources of water.
The community used to have a borehole, which stopped functioning in 2008. The villagers then came together in funding the drilling of a borehole, which was sited and drilled in 2015, but it stopped working well two years later.
In an interview with Telegraph, Walter Tavaziva, said the borehole only served the area for two years.
“Borehole redu rakangoshanda two years zvakanaka but problem yaingobudisa mvura yakasviba ine ngura.
“Zvanga zvakutora one hour or two kuti 20 litre bucket rizere,” said Tavaziva.
Charles Musarurwa is concerned about the water crises in Ward 6, which he said is being eased through pumping water from a nearby dam to Jeche River.
“The river does not keep water all year round, so we pump water from the dam. Mvura iyoyo inouya ichigara haiyerere so kana yakupera tinobva tasyphoner imwe,” said Musarurwa.
Another villager, Beauty James, said that they were glad to have the water from the river because they can now do their gardening nearby, unlike the previous years when they used to go some distance in search of water. They are using the same water source for their domestic animals.
The villagers facing the water crisis are no longer afraid of water-borne diseases because they do not have any other alternative source of clean and safe water and use the water available in the river.
The Government has embarked on the Presidential borehole drilling scheme, which is meant to provide adequate clean water to the people, with the programme targeting to provide 35 000 boreholes to the marginalised communities.