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111
Access to safe drinking water and improved
sanitation by 2015
Zimbabwe’s total annual renewable freshwater
resources amount to 20 cubic km per year, and
although the country experiences quality and dry
season problems at present, continued pressure
on the resource will lead to water stress by 2025
(Hirji
et al.
2002). Poor infrastructure hampers
access to water in most urban areas, and in
the capital, Harare, and the second main city,
Bulawayo, residents have gone without piped
water for as long as two weeks during recent
years (UNEP 2008). Figure 4.56 shows access to
safe water in rural and urban areas.
Reports from urban settlements give a
consistent picture of effluent and raw sewage
outflows entering rivers and dams, which are
the country’s major sources of water supply.
Some sewers are blocked, water treatment
plants lack chemicals, and many distribution
systems need repair.
Figure 4.56
Progress in achieving water and sanitation
targets is off track (Figure 4.57). Urban water and
sanitation systems are in urgent need of renewal,
and have faced serious problems that led to
localized outbreaks of cholera and typhoid. The
country has to raise safe water coverage in rural
areas from 61 per cent to 85 per cent and to raise
access to improved sanitation from 30.5 per cent
to 71 per cent (Government of Zimbabwe 2010).
Zimbabwe needs a water and sanitation sector-
wide assessment and full asset inventory followed
by an investment plan and an updated and
comprehensive water, sanitation and hygiene
policy that covers water resources in both urban
and rural areas (Government of Zimbabwe 2010).
Improve the lives of slum dwellersby 2020
Zimbabwe has the lowest proportional slum
population among the Zambezi Basin states at
just 3.4 per cent, down from 4 per cent in 1990,
as shown in Figure 4.58.
The portion of national population living in
urban areas was 36.4 per cent in 2006, about
four million people, with a projected urban
annual growth rate of 2.8 per cent to 2015.
Proportion of population with access
to safe water in Zimbabwe
100
80
60
40
20
0
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
Percentage
Source: SADC and SARDC 2008, Government of Zimbabwe 2010
Rural
Urban
120
Percentage
Urban
Rural
100
80
60
40
20
0
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
Proprotion of populationwith access to
improved sanitation facilities inZimbabwe
Source: SADC and SARDC 2008, Government of Zimbabwe 2010
Figure 4.57
Figure 4.58
3.3
3.2
3.5
3.6
3.7
4.0
3.9
3.8
4.1
3.4
3.1
1990
2001
Percentage
Proportion of urban dwellers living
in slum conditions in Zimbabwe
Source: UNEP 2008