ENI — Churches in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second largest city, have begun to supply residents with water for domestic use in an attempt to lessen the effects of shortages made worse by a struggle over control of the water supply. City authorities have imposed water-rationing measures that permit residents access to water for only a few hours every three days.
Pastor Ray Motsi, the convenor of an interdenominational group said Bulawayo's churches were working with the city council to identify the most vulnerable areas. The Zimbabwe government has refused to take any action to deal with water shortages in the city, which has 1.5 million residents, unless the city council agreed to hand over the supply of water to the State-run Zimbabwe National Water Authority.
The Oxford-based Ecumenical Council for Corporate Responsibility plans to bring together representatives of the environmental and business sectors to examine how water supplies can be maintained in the face of rising demand, climate change and pollution. The group says the issue of water affects regions once thought to have plentiful supplies.
The Geneva-based Ecumenical Water Network says that only 0.008 percent of the planet's water is available for consumption. “Water must be used efficiently for agricultural and industrial, as well as for domestic use,” the network has explained.
