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BULAWAYO and its surroundings sit on a health time bomb as blocked and obsolete leaking sewage pipes continue to discharge untreated effluent into the environment. The situation has been raging for the past decades or so, with no solution in sight.  Burst sewer pipes, heaps of uncollected refuse and water scarcity have become synonymous with Bulawayo and its surroundings, raising fears of disease outbreaks and environmental degradation.

Every time new councillors come into office, they make promises to prioritise improving waste management to protect the environment. They always sing the same tune about rehabilitating the outdated sewer pipes to minimise sewer bursts as part of waste management mechanism to reduce pollution, but so far, they have not delivered.

Council revealed that the water reticulation and waste water treatment infrastructure has seen better days after being used for more than 50 years without being replaced.

These old leaking sewer and burst pipes have proved to be a serious health hazard to residents, especially children who often play near these areas, oblivious of the dangers lurking in the polluted pools.

Raw sewage laced with dangerous poisons like lead, mercury, cyanide and chromium 6 offloaded into the rivers by companies in Bulawayo are hazardous to the environment and human beings.

A medical expert commenting on condition of anonymity said that people who drank water from the polluted rivers risk cumulative lead and mercury poisoning. He said the effects that could manifest even after 15 to 20 years or in future generations, included babies born with deformities or children who are extremely dull.

Leaking sewer pipes in Bulawayo suburbs have become a common sight.
The city council is failing to collect refuse regularly and it is posing a serious health hazard worsened by water shortage.

The council revealed that they have established focal points in different suburbs where residents can dump garbage to be collected later by council. These designated dumpsites have become a haven for breeding of diseases.

Bulawayo Residents Association’s chairman Winos Dube said the issue of the city council’s failure to collect waste combined by leaking of untreated effluent from the pipes is posing a serious health hazard and is now a cause for concern. He said the city, which was supposed to collect refuse at least twice a week, was at times going for two months without collecting the garbage.

Plans to avert the looming health disaster remain a pipe dream, as inadequate resources continue to hamper the local authority.
Speaking during a recent media tour organised by the Environmental Management Agency (EMA), the city’s director of engineering services, Engineer Simela Dube, said there are several challenges regarding the endless sewer bursts and poor solid waste management.

“The problems of sewer bursts and leakages are a result of corrosion of old pipes which have outlived their lifespan. The other challenge is lack of funding and inadequate resources to rehabilitate the dilapidated sewer reticulation infrastructure, though efforts are underway to mobilise enough resources to reduce the pollution being caused,” said Engineer Dube.

He said about $6,4 million is needed to rehabilitate the entire city’s waste water treatment works and cleaning of the choked pipes and manholes. He revealed that only $1 million has been sourced. He also pointed out that the rehabilitation might take over 10 years to complete, depending on the availability of funding and resources.

“We need about $6,4 million to rehabilitate all the city’s waste water treatment and the replacement and cleaning of the choked drainage manholes in the city. Many old sewer pipes are due for replacement in the city. It will take about 10 years to replace the old sewer network. Most of the effluent discharged into Umguza River was from the malfunctioning Aisleby Number 3 and Thorngrove Sewage Treatment Works, which were discharging untreated effluent into the environment,” said Eng Dube.

The Aisleby plant caters for waste that comes from low density areas, the Central Business District and the industrial areas while the one at Thorngrove covers the city’s high density suburbs.

In Sauerstown, old sewage pipes discharge raw effluent which collects in the ponds and overspills into the environment.
In a briefing during the tour, the Environmental Management Agency (EMA)’s provincial environment manager for Bulawayo, Decent Ndlovu, urged the city council to rectify its  waste management mechanism. He said council needed to attend to these burst sewers and replace the dilapidated pipes to comply with EMA’s environmental requirements. Ndlovu said he appreciated some of the efforts being made by the local authority in the rehabilitation of some obsolete pipes and improvement in its solid waste management mechanism. He also advised that the local authority should speed up its sewer rehabilitation programmes to reduce pollution.

“We realise that the local authority is working on the issue of rehabilitating the city’s waste water infrastructure, but more needs to be done. The local authority should speed up the rehabilitation and waste management programmes to reduce pollution. We do appreciate the council’s positive developments in trying to improve its waste management and disposal mechanism to reduce pollution comparing it with last year,” said Mr Ndlovu.

Last year, EMA fined Bulawayo City Council a total of $10,000 for polluting Umguza River.
Other companies have been fined varying amounts for the same offence.

Umguza River is still a recipient of the effluent from Thorngrove Sewage Treatment Works water offloaded into Mazai River.
In areas such as Cowdray Park, Makokoba, Magwegwe, Pumula and Emganwini, the stench from the sewers has become a common feature among the residents.

“We have been exposed to these burst sewer pipes and living with the uncollected heaps of refuse for so many years and this has exposed us to a lot of diseases especially our children. It seems there is no solution in sight,” said a resident from Makokoba suburb.

During the tour, it was revealed that the slow pace of burst sewer repairs was due to the engineering services department operating with inadequate sewer cleaning equipment. It has also emerged that some chokes were caused by residents who deliberately vandalised sewers by breaking manhole lids or covers exposing the sewers to children who end up throwing rocks and rags into the sewers.
Matabeleland North (EMA)’s provincial manager, Chipo Mpofu-Zuze said although the maintenance of the sewer systems and waste management should primarily rest with the council, the media and residents also have a role to play.

“The issue of waste management is not only the responsibility of council, the media and residents should play a role. Media can play an important role in highlighting issues affecting the environment and threatening human life. It is an all stakeholder responsibility to keep our environment clean,” said Mpofu-Zuze.

The media tour also took journalists to  St Luke’s Hospital in Matabeleland North Province where the institution has complied with EMA’s proposal for the hospital to install a new big  incinerator and a sewage treatment plant in accordance with EMA’s requirements.
An Environmental Management Agency’s quality officer, Kwanele Ndlovu added that the increase in atmospheric pollution as a result of gases released by the incinerators can cause permanent damage to the environment and have some long term repercussions to people’s health exposed to such hazardous gases.

He said organisations that use incinerators for solid waste disposal should minimise the amount of pollution emitted by these incinerators particularly in hospitals to install environment friendly incinerators. He also advised institutions that discharge their solid and effluent in the environment to comply with EMA’s laws and regulations to reduce pollution.

“If we look at some institutions and organisations like hospitals and industries which use incinerators in discharging solid waste, some poisonous atmospheric gases emitted from these incinerators pollute the environment and are also hazardous to human                         beings.
“We urge these institutions to comply with EMA’s laws and regulations than to wait to be fined. There is an acceptable chimney height for the incinerators to reduce environment pollution. The higher the incinerators’ chimneys the less pollution and exposure of the community to poisonous gases like carbon monoxide,” said Mr Ndlovu.

Despite EMA’s environmental law and regulations, Zimbabwe continues to face multiple environmental management challenges that include pollution, poor waste management, deforestation and land degradation, veld fires, poaching and biodiversity loss.