BULAWAYO residents have engaged private laboratories to run independent tests on the city’s water after five children reportedly succumbed to diarrhoea due to contaminated water being pumped to Luveve high-density suburb by the local authority.
The five children are said to have died between Thursday last week and Sunday, with residents insisting that “the cause might be the contaminated water they receive from council”.
It has been more than a fortnight after the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) first reported that it had collected samples for testing following complaints from residents who got sick after consuming tap water.
“We have engaged private laboratories and the National University of Science and Technology (Nust) to run tests on the water specimens that we have acquired from Luveve residents and other areas in Bulawayo as well,” Ndlovu said.
“After attending to these several reports and witnessing the contaminated water, it is distasteful for the local authority to release a statement that places the fault on the residents’ containers, citing them as the reason why they are falling sick and suffering from diarrhoea.”
