Zimbabwe Water

Zimbabwe water is amongst the poorest of water supplies in southern Africa compairing with its neighbours. Most drinking water in Zimbabwe to a greater percentage of the Zimbabwe people comes from unprotected sources especially in rural areas.

Most rural communities in Zimbabwe access water from relatively shallow wells dug within a homestead. Due to recurrent droughts somewhat now associated with Zimbabwe climate water may become scarce resulting in humans and animals drinking from the same unprotected sources such as polluted river beds.

Efforts have been made to ensure that Zimbabwe drinkng water is safe for human consumption. There are ongoing campaigns  mostly by international humanitarian organisations that encourage households to boil water especially in light of the recent plague of cholera in Zimbabwe.

Urban water supplies have deteriorated in quality in the last 10 years. Water coming through the taps in homes has been reported to sometimes even have an odour due to incomplete water treatment. This has been the case in most cities in Zimbabwe. Aging and outright absolete equipment has been blamed for poor water in Zimbabwe's cities which has been associated with water borne diseases such as cholera.

Water pollution is rife in the capital of Zimbabwe, Harare. As a result up to nine different chemicals are required to safely process Zimbabwe water. At the height of  inflation of the Zimbabwe currency these chemicals could not be easily ordered due to a weak currency and lack of foreign currency.

The good news to most vistors to Zimbabwe is that bottled water is available in grocery shops at about  45 US$ cents ( US$0.45) per 500ml bottle. Even with bottled water, it is highly recomended that visitors buy well known brands as many water treatment plants have mushroomed some of which have to been throughly vetted for standards.

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