Mix-up saw chemicals bound for water supply
A delivery mix-up nearly had catastrophic consequences for the city of 1.6 million residents when a local storage company sent sodium cyanide to the dilapidated Morton Jaffray Water Treatment Works instead of liquid aluminium sulphate.
It was only because the driver had a hunch about his cargo that offloading was halted, the official Herald newspaper said yesterday. Sodium cyanide is highly toxic even in small quantities.
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Hide AdThe Herald said: “Sources said there was a mix-up, resulting in the driver with the truck loaded with sodium cyanide being sent to deliver the chemical to the water treatment plant.”
After more than a decade of economic and political turmoil, Zimbabwe’s water supply is already far from reliable. Shortages are frequent, exacerbated by burst pipes that go unrepaired for weeks.
Criticising “poor monitoring systems” at the council-run plant, Precious Shumba, the chairman of the Harare Residents’ Trust, said: “We could have seen thousands of residents dying.”