Kuwadzana Sewage Crisis Deepens

Kuwadzana’s Fountain Blue residents have endured raw sewage flooding their homes for over a decade (image source)

Residents of Fountain Blue in Kuwadzana, Harare, have been living with raw sewage in their yards for over a decade after planned sewer lines were blocked by neighbouring Parkridge stands built on a wetland, forcing households to rely on costly septic tanks and rudimentary Blair toilets, heightening fears of a cholera outbreak.

Although Fountain Blue homeowners paid US $120 each in 2016 for a communal sewage system, no construction has started, and the approved route to the Mazai Sewage Treatment Works was usurped by stands under the Parkridge Housing Consortium in 2018, leaving residents exposed to overflowing effluent during rains.

“Every downpour floods our yards with sewage,” says Tendai Mazuru, chair of the Fountain Blue Housing Scheme. “We need urgent intervention before a cholera epidemic breaks out.” Lucia Mapfumo adds that septic-tank emptying costs US $80 a month, draining family budgets and forcing some to revert to Blair toilets, a relic of rural sanitation systems.

Under Section 60 of the Environmental Management Act, disposing wastewater into streams or wetlands without a licence is prohibited—violations that risk contaminating groundwater and public waterways. Fountain Blue residents say the only clear corridor for a sewer line skirts a protected stream, making legal compliance virtually impossible.

Parkridge Housing Consortium chairperson Charles Matsika defends the stands’ legality, asserting that they were surveyed and approved in 2018. “We are exploring alternative routes for Fountain Blue’s sewer line, but our development is lawful,” he told NewsDay—an explanation residents reject, citing a lack of viable diversion options without breaching environmental laws.

Harare City Council (HCC) spokesperson Stanley Gama, who pledged a probe into the matter, has yet to announce remedial action. According to the HCC’s own infrastructure report, over 5 000 km of aging sewer pipes in the municipality are beyond capacity, designed for a population half today’s size, leading to frequent blockages and health hazards (HCC Annual Report, 2024).

“Outdated infrastructure combined with ad hoc urban sprawl is a recipe for public-health disaster.”– Dr. Violet Chisango, environmental health specialist

Dr. Violet Chisango of the Ministry of Health warns that Zimbabwe recorded more than 34 000 suspected cholera cases and over 600 deaths during the 2023 outbreak, largely driven by contaminated water sources—a scenario that could repeat in high-density suburbs like Kuwadzana if the crisis persists.

Blockages escalate during heavy rains when raw sewage overtops septic tanks and seeps into yards. Families report foul odours, children playing amid effluent pools, and a spike in gastrointestinal illnesses treated at local clinics. “My two young ones developed diarrhoea last week,” recounts Mapfumo. “We can’t keep living like this.”

Rapid population growth has outpaced Harare’s sanitation infrastructure since the 1990s. As informal and formal housing developments expanded, municipal budgets failed to match capital-intensive sewer projects. A 2022 UN-Habitat study estimated that 40 percent of Harare’s suburbs lacked proper sewage connections, relying instead on on-site systems prone to failure.

In 2016, the Fountain Blue community formed the Housing Scheme and raised funds for a sewer line tying into the Herbert Chitepo network, but shifting municipal priorities and land-use disputes left the project in limbo. Parkridge stands, developed in 2018 on contested wetland, further complicated approvals and forced residents to seek legal recourse.

Fountain Blue residents are convening a stakeholder summit on 24 September, inviting HCC officials, the Environmental Management Agency, and civic organisations to chart an intervention plan. They plan to petition the Ministry of Local Government to enforce wetland protection and compel Parkridge to cede a sewer corridor.