Zimbabwe’s capital runs dry as taps cut off for 2 million people
HARARE, Zimbabwe — Over 2 million residents of Zimbabwe’s capital and surrounding towns are now without water after authorities shut down the city’s main treatment plant, raising new fears about disease after a recent cholera outbreak as the nation’s economy crumbles further.
Officials in Harare have struggled to raise foreign currency to import water treatment chemicals. Meanwhile, water levels in polluted dams are dropping because of drought.
Harare City Council spokesman Michael Chideme said that “everyone living in Harare is affected, they don’t have water.”
He called it dangerous because of the risk of water-borne diseases.
The capital frequently records cases of diseases such as typhoid due to water shortages and dilapidated sewer infrastructure. Some residents are forced to get water from shallow, unsafe wells and defecate in the open. /kga
