Outcry Over Growing Urban Pollution
Date:4 July 2004
Source: Zimbabwe Standard (Harare)
Author: Caiphas Chimhete
After draining the greasy oil from ramshackle vehicles he repairs in the streets every day in Harare's Kopje area, Tawanda throws it, along with other discarded vehicle parts, into the nearby storm-drain oblivious of the repercussions of his actions.
Tawanda is one of scores of street corner motor mechanics who are to be found prowling the seedier and less affluent end of Harare, whose trade has caused an outcry among environmentalists and the general public, concerned that these oils will later be swept into the city's water bodies.
A few metres from Tawanda's street "garage", a group of giggling streets kids are engulfed in a thick cloud black smoke from burning vehicle tyres which they light up to warm themselves against the chilly weather.
Though unrelated, both activities have become a source of concern among environmentalists and town planners, struggling to maintain low levels of pollution in urban environs.
A senior programme officer with the Municipal Development Partnership (MDP), Shingi Mushamba, said pollutants such as oils, chemicals and burnt tryes were a major problem in the country's urban centres.
The problem is being exacerbated by the growth of the informal sector, which has no capacity to deal with environmental challenges, as people devise means of ekeing out a living.
"It's a growing problem which should be tackled as soon as possible. For example, the developed world is dumping used tyres here because they are such a problem getting rid of them," said Mushamba, whose organisation researches on environmental issues in the country.
Apart from the informal sector, big corporate companies have also been found wanting as far as the discharge of industrial waste such as chemicals and oils into water bodies is concerned.
Last month, Harare metropolitan Governor Witness Mangwende, lambasted the corporate world for being responsible for the bulk of water pollution in the capital city.
Mangwende noted that of 1 500 companies in Harare which discharge effluent, only 700 can be billed for discharging effluent into the water system and only 120 firms were charged due to shortage of transport and manpower.
The chairman of the Zimbabwe Institute of Regional Urban Planners, Percy Toriro, said the problem of industrial and sewerage pollution was very rampant in towns and cities that "sit on their catchment" such as Harare, Chitungwiza and Ruwa.
"Whatever is discharged by residents and industry in these centres ends up as pollutants in our water sources," he said.
Toriro said the most dangerous pollutants, which find their way into water bodies include nitrites, sulphates and heavy metals such as lead, which have the potential to cause cancer.
Bulawayo, Mutare, Masvingo and Gweru which have refuse collection problems, also experience water pollution, said Toriro.
The City of Bulawayo, though not "sitting" on its catchment area, also experiences water pollution because "its sewerage infrastructure is old and raw sewage matter frequently spills into water bodies".
In Harare, water pollution is also linked to the old and dilapidated sewerage works at Firle near Glen Norah and Crowborough Water Works. Presently, the two works are serving double the number of people they were created to serve.
"The end result is that the water purification bill goes up and will continue to go up because the population of Harare is increasing rapidly and so is the demand for water," said a Harare City Council official in the Department of Works.
As a result about two-thirds of Harare's annual budget is consumed by waste management and water purification.
According to the 2003 annual report of the City of Harare's City Department of Health, the bulk of the wastes received at Golden Quarry dumpsite were from soaps and edible oils manufacturing companies followed by wastes from asbestos firms and leather processing industries
"People need to be more innovative because it has been established that 70 percent of waste sent to dumpsites are bio-degradable, which means that they can breakdown into manure. Why not turn it into manure and sell," queried Toriro.
He said while local authorities were busy taking "waste" to dumpsites, poverty-stricken Zimbabweans were carting it back in suburbs for resale.
Analysts said pollution in urban centres could only be reduced if stiffer penalties were enacted and enforced. They called for awareness campaigns by companies and individuals.
Shamiso Mtisi, a projects co-ordinator with the Zimbabwe Environment Law Society, said the penalties stipulated in the Environment Management Act were not prohibitive enough.
"There are certain companies that would prefer to pollute and pay later because to them it would be more economical. But the important thing is to sensitise them of the environmental dangers," said Mtisi, an environmental lawyer.
Under Section 57 of the Environmental Management Act, promulgated in 2002, a person or company found guilty of polluting water bodies is liable to a fine not exceeding $5 million or five years in jail or both.
The same Act also penalises an individual or company $15 million or five years in custody or both for polluting the air.
"In addition, a person or company would be ordered to bear the cost of removal of the pollutant under what is called the polluter pays principal," said Mtisi.
But culprits are rarely caught and brought to book.
Harare City Council public relations manager, Leslie Gwindi, was unable to shade light on the number of companies that have been taken to court by the local authority for pollution related offences.