Epworth Local Board to construct treatment plant to increase water supplies

The Epworth Local Board plans to build a massive water plant at Lyndhurst dam, the main source of water for the Harare suburb.

The dam produces close to 45 mega liters of clean
and safe drinking water on a daily basis and construction of the treatment plant will improve supplies and ensure citizens have access to clean, adequate, and safe
drinking water.

Plans for the ambitious project are part of the comprehensive Epworth masterplan recently presented to the
Minister of State for Provincial and Devolution affairs.

The Epworth Local Authority stressed the importance of assembling a water plant in the area to improve water supply since only 57% of its
units have improved access to water supply.

The Municipality is engaging other partners, namely the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA) and the Upper Manyame Sub Catchment
Council to embark on this immense project which will improve water sanitation and supply in the Harare east suburb.

Epworth Local Board Town Secretary Dr Wilton Mhanda confirmed the development, saying the Local Authority is facing challenges
to reach the daily required amount of water needed by the community on a daily basis.

“Only 57% of our formal units have access to improved water supply,
which is way below our required target. Our thrust as the local Authority is to improve water supply thus ensurung every citizen has
access to clean and safe drinking water,” said Dr Mhanda.

In presenting its Master plan to Harare Minister of State for Provincial and Devolution Affairs last week the Epworth Local
Authority revealed its objective was to develop a water treatment plant, identifying Lyndhurst Dam as the location for the project.

“We are going to develop a water treatment plant at Lyndhurst dam, establishing the dam as the holding dam for the water treatment
plant,” reads the presentation.

The Harare East municipality made public its intentions to develop 45 mega litres capacity reservoirs at Ventersburg water
reservoirs and installing trunk water lines at Lyndhurst Dam to
the reservoirs.

“We are going to develop dedicated trunk water lines to Lyndhurst Dam,
the treatment plant and to the reservoirs,” reads the presentation.

The Epworth Local Board plans to partner major
stakeholders who are experienced in water supply and sanitation so as
to come up with an effectual water treatment plant.

“We will also work with Harare Sunway City and
the Goromonzi Rural District Council,” he said.

The Epworth Local Board is a local planning authority tasked with overseeing the development of the Epworth Local Government Area.

Its primary objective is to promote the well being of the local community through considerations of health, safety, amenity, convenience, efficiency, and economic progress

To fulfil this mandate, the Local Board prepared a major forward plan called the Epworth Master Plan which guides land use activities in its area.

The national development context for the preparation of the Epworth Master Plan was driven by the Zimbabwean Constitution and the
country’s Vision 2030 economic plan which further aligns with the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the UN’s Sustainable Development
Goals.

The preparation of the Epworth Master Plan responds to the current challenges in Epworth.

Amongst the top priority areas that the proposed Epworth Master Plan
seeks to contain, and address is the structural challenge of informality.The Master Plan will be used as the basis for crafting tools and other frameworks for development planning and management in the area.

Furthermore, the Master Plan identifies the spatial development problems and opportunities in the Epworth study area and goes further to proffer clear-cut spatial development solutions for and in Epworth