Authorities in Zimbawe are scrambling to meet the water needs of the country’s capital Harare after the city’s main water treatment plant was shut down on Monday, leaving 1 million people without tap water.
Zimbabwe was hit by a severe drought between October 2018 and May this year, but Harare’s Deputy Mayor Herbert Mupamaonde said a prolonged shortage of foreign currency to import water purifying chemicals has worsened the situation.
Mupamaonde said officials have sought a week’s supply of chemicals from Bulawayo, the country’s second-biggest city, to resume operation and they hoped to get water running in homes by late Tuesday.