City of Harare decommissions 15 boreholes amids typhoid outreak

The City of Harare health department has decommissioned 15 boreholes in Glen Norah,Mbare and Budiriro after the water was found to be contaminated with traces of human faeces.

Harare has been battling a Typhoid outbreak in Glen View,Budiriro and Glen     Norah with several boreholes having been deconatminated at the beginning of the year.

Speaking to state media,the City of Harare  epidemiology and disease control officer Dr Michael Vere confirmed development.

“We have tested several boreholes in Harare , a total of 127 , and we discovered that seven boreholes were contaminated with faecal matter in Glen Norah and eight boreholes in Mbare,” he said.

Dr Vere added  that the city fathers had put measures  in place to curtail the spread of the outbreak which as reached  20 confirmed cases in the capital since January 1.

“We temporarily closed these boreholes and installed in-line chlorinators; these are devices that contain chlorine, which kills all the bacteria in the water to make it safe for use.

“These boreholes could have been the source of typhoid infection,”he added.

Meanhwile the government has confirmed that it has  updated its cholera and typhoid control guidelines to curb the spread of Typhoid in the city.

The three surburbs, have  been using borehole water since the country’s deadliest cholera outbreak in 2008-2009, when some 100,000 Zimbabweans became infected and more than 4,000 people died.