Environmental Catastrophe Engulfs Harare
The Harare Wetlands Trust, a civic organisation which advocates for protection of wetlands and sustainable water provisison, has given Harare City Council a 48-hour ultimatum to address the unfolding ecological disaster at Lake Chivero amid dying fish and other species due to raw sewage contamination – or else face legal action.
An ecological or environmental disaster is a catastrophic event that occurs in a natural environment caused by human activity.
Lake Chivero has been badly contaminated by raw sewage and industrial effluents.
Human waste contaminates Lake Chivero.
It is also full of industrial effluents which can contain a variety of organic and inorganic pollutants, including pesticides, fertilizers, hydrocarbons, phenols, plasticisers, biphenyls, detergents, oils, greases, and pharmaceuticals, among other things.
As a result, Lake Chivero, a primary water source for the capital Harare, is facing a severe ecological disaster, right on the south-western edge of the capital.
The lake, which supplies water to Harare and surrounding towns, has been contaminated with cyanobacteria, leading to the death of fish and wildlife, posing a significant threat to human health.
The situation is exacerbated by the lake’s limited capacity, which was designed to supply water to only 200 000 residents, but now serves over 2.4 million people.
This has resulted in a water crisis and pollution, further compromising the lake’s ecosystem.
The ecological disaster at Lake Chivero serves as a stark reminder of Zimbabwe’s environmental vulnerabilities.
As the country prepares to host the Ramsar Convention CoP15 in 2025, it is essential for stakeholders to collaborate and prevent further ecological and health disasters.
Zimbabwe will be hosting Ramsar COP 15 Convention on Wetlands at Elephant Hills, Victoria Falls from 23-31 July 2025 and 172 countries are expected to attend the event.
Thousands of fish, and four white rhinos, along with other wildlife and livestock, have died due to water contaminated with cyanobacteria.
In a letter to the city council, Harare Wetlands Trust called for an urgent intervention to decontaminate the lake and stop the ecological species carnage.
If the local authority fails to comply and address the situation, the Trust says it will take legal action through the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights.
“From our client’s professional experience and expertise, our client reasonably believes that the pollution by cyanobacteria in Lake Chivero is caused by the City of Harare’s conduct of constantly dumping raw sewage effluent in Lake Chivero over the years,” the letter says.
“Our client, being a not-for-profit organisation whose main objective, inter alia, is the environmental protection of all water bodies and aqua biodiversity and aqua deeply concerned that this dire situation can lead to the loss of animal life, aqua 1 aqua bio-diversity.“
Our client also understands that people carry out fishing activities in Lake Chivero in which they obtain fish for resale and consumption. This has a ripple effect on people consuming contaminated fish.”
According to the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, the water pollution was largely caused by raw sewage, particularly from the Marimba area in Harare.
