During the latest council meeting in September, Masunda said the solid matter introduced into sewer systems was affecting the performance of the entire system. “It is high time we embarked on a massive campaign to educate residents to stop putting insoluble garbage into sewer systems,” he said. It cost council millions of dollars to resuscitate Firle and Crowborough Sewer Plants, which clean raw sewage to environmentally friendly levels before it flows into Lake Chivero, from where it is pumped to Morton Jaffray water reticulation plant for further treatment.
Masunda said residents should desist from using sand for domestic use, such as washing of pots, as it blocks pipes in the system. “Last week a human female body was discovered among the waste matter removed at FSP, of which 12 tonnes was just sand,” he said.
FSP has the capacity to treat 144 mega-litres of raw sewage every day but is currently coping with only 90.The Harare Water Department Director, Christopher Zvobgo, is on record saying it cost $18 million to rehabilitate the sewer plant which stopped functioning in 2002 due to clogging but was revived last year.