Prevail Group chair hails govt move to solarise all urban boreholes

Harare- PREVAIL Group chairman Paul Tungwarara who is spearheading the Presidential boreholes and project implementor has Tuesday hailed the government for ordering the solarisation of all urban boreholes to curb the cholera outbreak.

“The Minister of Agriculture has ordered that all boreholes that were drilled in urban areas to be installed on solar system as soon as possible,” he said.

He was echoing the sentiments made by Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Minister Anxious Masuka to make this order a top priority in order to help combat cholera epidemic.

On Tuesday, Goverment directed that all urban boreholes be solarised in order to increase access to clean potable drinking water.

The project will see previously drilled traditional hand pump boreholes being installed with solar panels to allow water to be fed into household taps.

This intervention come in the face of 71 lives that were lost, while more than 300 others are suspected to have succumbed to the disease since its outbreak last year.

Harare residents have welcomed the move saying it was long overdue and that it will go a long way in fighting cholera.

“The long queues you are witnessing are a result of hand pump boreholes, but if we shift to solar pumps, people will no longer have to queue for water,”Elvis Musana from Glenview said.

Another resident, Brian Chiroodza pointed out that if all the boreholes were equipped with tanks and solar panels, water treatment would be much easier.

“We applaud the Government for taking this step, as many of the hand pump boreholes are contaminated. With solar-powered boreholes, water can be treated easily by putting chemicals in tanks to prevent cholera,” he said.

Some residents said the installation of solar-powered boreholes must be speedily implemented before the cholera situation worsens.

They argued that hand pump boreholes are worsening the cholera situation.