Harare and Chitungwiza's water woes worsened yesterday.

Fingers are being pointed: workers are said to be indifferent to the problems and the management has been said to be lax.

Both allegations are probably true.

To take a weekend example. There was a power cut that managers say was not reported. Well, it should have been reported. But on the other hand, why was there no manager on duty at the water works or at least monitoring the flow of water into the city? We can only assume most managers do not work weekends.

Better management, with managers taking a detailed interest in what staff are doing as well as trying to solve problems, would improve matters.

The shortage of treatment chemicals seems to be a perennial excuse.

Yet the Government and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe have provided help and supplies should already be a lot better.

Already, R17 million has been committed. The chemicals required are not fancy hi-tech products. Aluminium sulphate, charcoal, lime and chlorine are old-fashioned chemicals that have been in use for many decades and are used by all water authorities throughout southern Africa.

Reputable suppliers, people who have been procuring and selling the stuff for decades, abound.

Zinwa, now that it has been given the money, should be able to tap into these and buy as much as it needs in a day or two.

There are reports of pumps that need repairs and other equipment that is not functioning or functioning badly.

Zinwa admittedly is short of skilled staff, but with the sort of State backing it is getting, it could easily go to the private sector and have equipment fixed.

With daily flights to South Africa and weekly flights to China, the twin sources of much of the equipment, lengthy delays in buying spares should not happen.

Harare has been pumping water for almost exactly a century and many cities in the region have been doing this for longer.

The technology required is not recently developed in major laboratories.

In fact, it is about as basic as one gets in the engineering world.

Zinwa managers seem very reluctant to talk to the city residents or the Press.

If they are as reticent as that with the Government, then they have only themselves to blame if no one knows what help they need.

If Zinwa's present management team for Harare is deficient then the parastatal's board and top managers should find someone new to lead the team and and bring water supplies back to normal.

With the serious financial backing now from the central Government and the RBZ, there can be no more excuses.