Harare residents continue to grapple with water shortages despite assurances from the Zimbabwe Water Authority and Harare City Council that the problem is fixed.
Residents say burst water pipes go unrepaired for days, while eastern neighborhoods have had no water for four weeks due to lower pressure at the Letombo Reservoir.
Critics say the national water authority's assumption of responsibility from Harare only made matters worse, as ZINWA has failed to provide water treatment chemicals.
Instead, it is asking the government for permission to raise water charges tenfold from Z$8 per cubic meter to more than Z$100, arguing that water rates are far too low to ensure the sustainable operation of the metropolitan water supply system.
Former Harare Mayor Elias Mudzuri, now organizing secretary for the Movement for Democratic Change faction of MDC founding president Morgan Tsvangirai, said in an interview with reporter Jonga Kandemiiri of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that Harare should have built the proposed Kunzvi Dam long ago to end such problems.