By Elvis Dumba
The Municipality of Chinhoyi Public Relations Manager and Spokesperson Tichaona Mlauzi has assured residents and stakeholders in the town that their drinking water is safe for consumption with the local authority making monthly tests on the quality of their water.
Mlauzi remarks follow viral news that circulated in some sections of the media where it was reported that a mental patient’s body was found in one of the town’s water tanks in a decomposing state that affected the water quality and supply in the town.
“Our water is safe, and all our water works sites are fully secured with our tanks securely closed on top with no chances of any foreign object getting into the tanks and we do not have a report of a corpse being found in or near our tanks. We have also checked with the police and no such report was ever made,” he said.
Mlauzi said they have engaged the police over the issue and assured residents of the safety of the water.
“Our water is safe, and we do monthly quality assurance tests of our water every month where our water samples are taken to laboratories and tested for quality. I would like to assure our residents and stakeholders that our water is safe,” he said.
In a viral message that circulated in the town and was reproduced by some media organisations, it was reported that water challenges in the town were a result of a decomposing body of a mental patient that was found in one of the water tanks blocking water supply to distribution pipes.
The message first circulated on 1 April 2023, which was taken as a fools’ day joke.
Some residents in Chinhoyi had resorted to borehole water, with some turning to commercially bottled water after panicking over the matter.
