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Overview:
Water Supply and Sanitation
Zimbabwe has limited water resources and generally depends on
surface storage for its water needs. All of Zimbabwe’s major rivers
are shared with other members of the Southern Africa Development
Community (SADC). Zimbabwe cooperates actively with other members
of SADC on the shared management of the region’s river systems, and
it is a signatory to the Shared Water Course Systems Protocol,
which provides the basis for management of the international rivers
in the SADC countries. It is also an active member of the Limpopo
and Zambezi basin communities which oversee joint management of
these international rivers. The largest user of water in Zimbabwe
is the agricultural sector which accounts for about three-quarters
of total consumption, followed by the domestic sector which
accounts for about 15 percent, and industry uses the remaining 7
percent. It is a major national resource and, up until the economic
crisis of the previous decade, it was a crucial factor in
Zimbabwe’s agricultural and industrial competitive advantage in the
region. Access to improved water and sanitation has a direct
positive impact on health in Zimbabwe, particularly among children.
It also tends to raise school attendance rates, particularly for
girls, and the ability of children to learn. Improvements in such
areas in turn may have a high payoff in the long term in terms of
productivity. In the past decade, the water supply and sanitation
systems in many urban and rural areas in Zimbabwe have deteriorated
and water dependent businesses have been adversely affected by
shortages. Sewage systems have experienced large-scale blockages,
water treatment plants are dysfunctional and lack chemicals and
many distribution systems have fallen into disrepair. The failure
of the electric power system to provide a regular and reliable
supply of electricity has compounded the problem of operating the
water supply and sewerage systems of urban areas and has
contributed to collapse of the system.
Service Levels in Zimbabwe
In the
early 1990s, the coverage and quality of the basic infrastructure
of Zimbabwe was among the best in the region. In the past decade,
the quality of these infrastructure assets has deteriorated. As
things now stand, the amount and quality of the country’s
infrastructure is roughly in line with that of other Southern
African countries, but as with many other Sub-Saharan countries,
Zimbabwe now lags behind most other regional groupings in the world
in infrastructure service coverage and quality. Zimbabwe does have
one of the largest road and rail networks in the Southern Africa
region. Although airport density is low and the related
infrastructure is dilapidated, railways, roads, and access to ports
are somewhat better relative to conditions in other countries in
the region. Access to power, water, and sanitation services is
roughly comparable with other countries in the region. In the case
of communications, mobile phone densities were among the lowest in
the region in 2006, but access has improved sharply in the past few
years. Use of the internet per 100 people, on the other hand, was
the highest in the region in 2006, perhaps in reaction to
inadequate access to mobile voice services. Warehouses and handling
services for hire, purchase and/or lease are readily available to
commercial users and well as humanitarian organisations. In
addition the government through relevant ministries, the UN
community, NGOs and multinational organisations have databases for
various service providers that can be shared upon request. However
the tobacco buying season brings in competition for space between
March and August when farmers and buyers are
transacting.
For more information, please see the following link: Status of Infrastructure Services in the Economy
The following sections contain information on the service and supply industries of Zimbabwe.
