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Whinsley Masara, Chronicle Reporter
CARITAS, a development arm of the Roman Catholic Church has commissioned a $10 000 solar piped water centre at Sontala village, Ward 12, in Matobo District.

More than 100 households in the village in Matabeleland South province will get water from the centre.

Villagers had been walking distances of up to 10 km to fetch water from unprotected sources, which they shared with animals.

Caritas development coordinator Mr Welcome Sibanda said the project was the first of its kind in the district.

“A few months after we rehabilitated and commissioned a dam here at Sontala, a weir in Mbembeswana in Ward 11, we are pleased to hand over our third pledge here in ward 12 again.”

“The people of Sontala village have appreciated the assistance by Caritas and we will continue to work with them. There was inadequate water supply in the area due to siltation and we realised there was need for a piped water scheme,” said Mr Sibanda.

He said most existing water sources were too far away from villages and were unsafe.

“This project is in line with the strategic developmental goals of Zim-Asset which require that people get clean water and they have it close to them.

We have started on a second similar project in another village. Villagers are using one borehole which is very far from homesteads and bad in terms of long queues,” said Mr Sibanda.

Ward 12 councillor, Mrs Nomhle Nkundla said villagers could now produce crops as they have been availed with a water centre.

She said villagers are facing starvation after a poor rainy season and the water centre is a welcome development.

“Villagers have been depending on rivers which used to dry up before the rainy season and there would be inadequate water supply in the region.

This water centre comes at a most appropriate time,” she said.

Last year, Caritas commissioned a dam at Sontala community in the same district which cost over $20,000, aimed at alleviating floods and drought challenges in the arid District.

They also commissioned a weir (small dam structure) in Mbembeswana.

The dam provides water for an irrigation scheme through a sand degradation process.

It uses solar energy to pump water into a tank which then distributes it to more than 10 taps in the garden.

@winnie_masara