This was revealed by the Institute of Water and Sanitation Development Technical Officer, Rememberance Mashava, in an interview with The Zimbabwean on the sidelines of a media briefing on National Sanitation Week.
“The policy is currently being drafted through a consultative process spearheaded by the Ministry of Health. Actually, this process has formed the National Action Committee – consisting of various partners,” said Mashava.
Various aspects of sanitation and water delivery need to be addressed, including hardware, institutional capacity, software and training in community-based management of resources.
Meanwhile, Vice President Joice Mujuru is expected to launch the water and sanitation week tomorrow (Friday), aimed at conscientizing communities on the need to maintain hygiene and dispose of waste in a sustainable manner.
Harare City Waste Water Manager, Samuel Muserere, said the local authority had a lot to do to curb the discharge of raw sewage into water bodies, as continuing sewer bursts and blockages remain a threat to the health of the city’s residents.
He said 50% of the challenges in proper sewage management were to do with social engineering – lack of knowledge on the part of communities – while the other 50% was caused by industrialists.
“The Environmental Management Agency must control soaps and detergents, especially those imported into the country, that contain high levels of phosphates,” he added.
Post published in: News