In an interview with The Zimbabwean, the chair of Chipinge Town Council, Chadamoyo Machingura, said: The water situation in Chipinge is far from over. We need to get the necessary financial and material resources. The major problem is that our water treatment plant is down. The council is currently bankrupt. We cannot afford to meet the financial requirements needed to refurbish the dilapidated water supply infrastructure.
He added that when the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) inherited the water reticulation system from the local authority, it did not refurbish the existing water structures.
They did not even put in anything new and this worsened the situation. The ongoing power cuts have impacted negatively on the water situation in this town. The mega litres that we require on a daily basis are far below what we are getting, he said. We are in the process of engaging stakeholders so that we can find a lasting solution to this problem. But, unfortunately, we cannot realise our dreams when we do not have immediate financial solutions, he said. Machingura said the council was looking at the option of drilling boreholes, which he said was generally cheaper.