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BULAWAYO City Council and some companies are still discharging polluted water into Umguza River despite being warned by the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) to stop doing so.

BULAWAYO City Council and some companies are still discharging polluted water into Umguza River despite being warned by the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) to stop doing so. MTHANDAZO NYONI OWN CORRESPONDENT

EMA closed at least 10 companies in Bulawayo when it launched a blitz which started mid-year, although most of them were later re-opened after committing to address the problems.

However, EMA Bulawayo manager Decent Ndlovu told Southern Eye Business that companies and council were still struggling to meet the required standards.

“We are still pushing them to stop discharging raw sewer into rivers, but they are still doing it,” he said.

“The pollution is still there. Even the city council is still discharging into Umguza River and we will continue engaging them.”

Ndlovu urged companies to be environmentally conscious by discharging waste within the required standards.

EMA extended the deadline for companies to meet strict regulations on water to November as a way of allowing them more time to implement remedial measures.

The environment regulator had given most companies until August to comply, failure of which would have seen most of them either being heavily fined or closed.

A government environmental report on Bulawayo, released early this year, showed that there were a number of companies that were discharging raw effluent which was now polluting Umguza River.