In Chitungwiza, a city of 750,000 souls on the outskirts of Harare, the distance between what a city promises its people and what it can deliver has grown into a chasm measured in megalitres and decades. Infrastructure built for a smaller, younger city now strains under the weight of a population it was never designed to serve, while treatment plants stand largely silent and sewage flows where it should not. Parliament has answered with an ambitious blueprint, but the oldest question in governance remains unanswered: where will the money come from, and how long can people wait?
Chitungwiza faces acute water crisis with supply at just 11% of demand
750,000 residents face severe water shortages, sanitation collapse, and disease risk from non-functional wastewater treatment since 2007.
Treatment plants running at 1 to 5 percent of capacity
Mark
So Chitungwiza is getting 12 megalitres when it needs 112.5. That's roughly one-tenth of what it needs. How did it get this bad?
Mimi
The infrastructure was built in the 1970s and 80s, designed to last 30 years. It's now decades past that. The population has grown to 750,000, but the pipes and treatment plants haven't been upgraded or replaced.
Luke
Right, but the report says treatment plants are running at 1 to 5 percent capacity. That's not just old infrastructure—that's infrastructure that's been allowed to fail. Zengeza hasn't worked since 2007. That's nearly 20 years.
Mimi
And there's no money to fix it. No foreign currency for parts, vandalism that goes unrepaired. The city collects only 57 percent of the revenue it's owed.
Mark
Why is revenue collection so low?
Mimi
About half the city is informal settlements. Forty thousand structures are built on wetlands and aren't on the billing system at all. People in informal areas often can't pay, or the city can't reach them to bill them.
Luke
But that's a choice too, isn't it? The city could prioritize collecting from the formal areas, or it could invest in meters and billing infrastructure. Instead it's dependent on government transfers that arrive late.
Mark
What's the plan to fix it?
Mimi
Parliament proposed a 426 million dollar program. New water source, new treatment plant, new meters, and they want to give Chitungwiza Water Authority Status so it can manage its own dam.
Luke
Those are good ideas, but they're proposals. The money isn't there yet. And even if it were, the new treatment plant would produce 90 megalitres. That still leaves a gap of 22 megalitres between what the city needs and what it would have.
Mark
So even the solution doesn't fully solve it.
Luke
Not according to the numbers in the report, no.
El Pulso
- Chitungwiza receives just 12 of the 112.5 megalitres it needs daily — a shortfall so vast it signals not mismanagement but systemic collapse.
- Wastewater treatment has been effectively non-functional since 2007, leaving 750,000 residents exposed to disease risk every day that passes without repair.
- Half the city lives in informal settlements, 40,000 structures sit on protected wetlands, and only 57% of owed revenue is collected — each problem feeding the next in a cycle the city cannot break alone.
- Parliament has proposed a $426.3 million Cholera Alleviation Programme — new dams, treatment plants, and prepaid meters — that is technically coherent but as yet unfunded.
- Granting Chitungwiza Water Authority status and incorporating surrounding land by 2027 could free the city from Harare's water hierarchy, but boundary disputes and financing gaps cloud the path forward.
In Chitungwiza, a city of 750,000 souls on the outskirts of Harare, the distance between what a city promises its people and what it can deliver has grown into a chasm measured in megalitres and decades. Infrastructure built for a smaller, younger city now strains under the weight of a population it was never designed to serve, while treatment plants stand largely silent and sewage flows where it should not. Parliament has answered with an ambitious blueprint, but the oldest question in governance remains unanswered: where will the money come from, and how long can people wait?
Chitungwiza needs 112.5 megalitres of water a day. It receives 12. That gap — more than 90 megalitres — is not a temporary disruption but the visible surface of a structural collapse built up over decades, now pressing against the lives of nearly three-quarters of a million people.
A Parliamentary committee report released this week traced the anatomy of the crisis with careful precision. The water and sewer systems were built in the 1970s and 1980s, designed for a smaller city and a shorter lifespan. They now serve a population they were never meant to hold. Wastewater treatment plants run at between 1 and 5 percent of capacity. The Zengeza Wastewater Treatment Works has not functioned at all since 2007 — undone by the absence of foreign currency for parts and by vandalism that goes unrepaired.
The city's dependence on Harare for water deepens the problem. Harare draws first; Chitungwiza manages what remains. Silt accumulates, blockages form, and the system grows harder to sustain with each passing season. Roughly half the city exists in informal settlements, including some 40,000 structures built on protected wetlands that should be filtering water naturally. These buildings sit outside the billing system, shrinking the revenue base the city needs to function. Even from formal areas, Chitungwiza collects only 57 percent of what it is owed — and government transfers arrive late and fall short.
Parliament's proposed answer is a $426.3 million Cholera Alleviation Programme: a new dam to give Chitungwiza its own water source, 90,000 prepaid meters to improve billing, and a treatment plant capable of 90 megalitres per day — enough to nearly close the supply gap. The Committee has also recommended Water Authority status for Chitungwiza by end of 2026, which would allow the city to manage its own water infrastructure rather than remaining subordinate to Harare's allocation decisions. Surrounding farmland would be incorporated by December 2027 to allow planned resettlement of those living on wetlands, though boundary disputes with a neighboring rural council may complicate the timeline.
The proposals are detailed and technically credible. But they remain on paper while residents live with water that runs a few hours a week, sewage systems that cannot be flushed, and treatment plants that cannot treat. The human cost — disease, sanitation failure, the slow erosion of ordinary urban life — is being paid every day, by everyone.
Chitungwiza, a city of roughly 750,000 people, is receiving 12 megalitres of water each day. It needs 112.5. The gap—more than 90 megalitres short—is not a temporary shortage or a management hiccup. It is a structural collapse that has been decades in the making, and it is now threatening the basic machinery that keeps a city from becoming uninhabitable.
A Parliamentary report released this week by the Portfolio Committee on Environment, Climate and Wildlife laid out the arithmetic with clinical precision. The water and sewer systems that serve Chitungwiza were built in the 1970s and 1980s, designed to last thirty years. They are now operating far beyond that lifespan, serving a population that has grown to nearly three-quarters of a million. The treatment plants that are supposed to clean wastewater before it returns to the environment are running at between 1 and 5 percent of their intended capacity. The Zengeza Wastewater Treatment Works, which should be one of the city's primary defenses against disease, has not functioned at all since 2007. The reasons are familiar to anyone watching infrastructure decay in resource-constrained countries: no foreign currency to buy parts, and vandalism that goes unrepaired.
The shortage is made worse by the city's dependence on Harare, which draws water first and leaves Chitungwiza to manage what remains. This arrangement has created a cascade of problems—silt accumulates in pipes, blockages form even in lines that have been recently fixed, and the system becomes progressively harder to maintain. Roughly half of Chitungwiza exists in informal settlements, areas that sprawl without planning or formal connection to municipal services. About 40,000 structures have been built on protected wetlands, land that should absorb water and filter it naturally. These buildings are not on the council's billing rolls, which means the city cannot collect revenue from them and cannot plan services for them.
The revenue problem runs deeper still. Even from the formal parts of the city, Chitungwiza collects only 57 percent of the money it is owed. The local authority has become dependent on government transfers that arrive late and in amounts that fall short of what is needed to run operations, let alone repair or replace aging infrastructure. The city is caught in a familiar trap: without money, it cannot fix the systems; without functioning systems, it cannot collect the money.
Parliament's response is ambitious, if not yet funded. The Portfolio Committee has proposed a Cholera Alleviation Programme with a price tag of US$426.3 million. The plan includes US$50.6 million to build Muda Dam, which would give Chitungwiza its own water source independent of Harare's allocation. Another US$45 million would go toward 90,000 prepaid water meters—a way to track consumption and improve billing. US$120 million is earmarked for a new water treatment plant with a capacity of 90 megalitres per day, which would nearly close the gap between supply and demand.
The Committee has also recommended that Parliament grant Chitungwiza Water Authority Status by the end of 2026, a designation that would allow the city to manage Prince Edward Dam independently rather than relying on Harare's control. To make room for people living on the wetlands that have been illegally occupied, the report proposes that surrounding farms and areas—Nyatsime, Imbwa, Chikwanha, Tantallion, Edinburgh, and Manyere—be incorporated into the city by December 31, 2027. This would allow for planned resettlement, though the report acknowledges that boundary disputes with Manyame Rural District Council may complicate the process.
What remains unresolved is the question of money. The proposals are detailed and technically sound, but they exist on paper while Chitungwiza's residents continue to live with water that runs for a few hours a week, sewage systems that cannot be flushed, and treatment plants that cannot treat. The city's infrastructure crisis is not new, but the urgency has sharpened. The gap between what the city has and what it needs has become too large to ignore, and the human cost—disease risk, sanitation collapse, the slow degradation of urban life—is being paid daily by three-quarters of a million people.
Citas Notables
The city's water and sewer infrastructure, constructed in the 1970s and 1980s with an expected lifespan of 30 years, was now overwhelmed by a population of about 750,000.— Portfolio Committee on Environment, Climate and Wildlife
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