HARARE, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Harare City Council said Wednesday that it had begun receiving supplies of chlorine gas which is required in the production of potable water.
Several residential areas have been without water for at least one week, with residents in some saying that they last received supplies six weeks ago as the council failed to procure water treatment chemicals because of a shortage of foreign currency.
"Supplies of chlorine gas have started arriving at Morton Jaffray Water Treatment Plant ensuring that water treatment continues. We continue to engage the monetary authorities for payment to other suppliers of different chemicals," a statement from the council said without indicating when supplies were expected to be restored in the suburbs.
Spokesperson Michael Chideme said Tuesday that the city was producing just over 20 percent of daily potable water demand because of the shortage of chemicals and had engaged the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe over the timely release of foreign currency to companies that import the chemicals from China and South Africa.
As at Tuesday, the council was only producing 100 million liters against a daily average of 450 million liters, with Chideme warning that available stocks of chlorine gas would only last two days then.
He said the central bank had promised to release an initial 150,000 U.S. dollars towards the importation of the gas.
The city requires 3 million U.S. dollars every month to buy water purification chemicals for its 2.5 million residents and 2 million others in surrounding towns.
