BY VANESSA GONYE A HEALTH disaster is looming in Harare’s Budiriro and Glen View high-density suburbs, both cholera hotspots, after an increase in unattended burst sewage pipes. So dire is the situation that some of the effluent is flowing towards water points, including community boreholes. Community Water Alliance (CWA) spokesperson Christopher Gohori decried the plight of the residents who were being asked to pay an extra fee by council workers before they attend to burst sewage pipes. “In order to address this problem, there is need to elicit accountability and response from duty bearers on addressing burst water and sewage pipes. CWA calls for increased budget allocation in water and sewage pipe replacement and repairs in order to prevent deaths from water borne diseases like typhoid and cholera,” he said. “City of Harare should focus on reducing non-revenue water or water leakages as a way of increasing revenue from water and it also helps in the implementation of handwashing with soap under running water as one of the COVID-19 prevention protocols.” Fifty-eight and 79 cases of serious sewer bursts have been reported in Glen View and Budiriro, respectively, and these remain unattended to date. Follow Vanessa on Twitter @vanessa_gonye