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Kudzai Gaveni, Online Writer

THE Bulawayo City Council which had closed some public toilets around the city due to water shortages, is being forced to reopen to prevent a health hazard.

Some suburbs in the city get running tap water two days a week while some in high-lying areas have gone for months without running water.

In a report to the council, the city’s health, housing and education committee said businesses and vendors operating near public toilets have requested to be allowed to run the facilities on behalf of their clients.

The local authority recommended that they could be allowed if they ran them free of charge, bringing water from their homes.

“The water shortage challenges forced the department to close some toilets as they would not be kept clean, when there was no water. In response to the closure, some shop owners and vendors committees operating close to public toilets asked to operate the toilets for their clientele,” read the report.

“The departments noted that communities close to the public toilets could bring stored water from their premises to keep the toilets clean, a potentially viable partnership during under the trying times. Furthermore, it is noted that turning the toilets in the residential areas into pay toilets was not economically viable. In the past Council leased out the public toilets and almost all were handed back as the leases would not break even.”

The department recommended that applications from business operators, vending committees, organisations, or individuals who might be willing to operate public toilets for free be invited and that successful applicants be given zero-fee service agreements on condition that the toilets will be open freely to the general public