Much of the Zimbabwean capital of Harare remained without running water on Wednesday, while suburbs that were well supplied earlier in the week despite the failure of a major water pumping station said their taps have dried up.
Sources contacted in Harare said the outlying district of Hatfield has had no water for a week, while Marlborough and surrounding areas have had no water for two weeks. Glenview has had an erratic supply of water though it flowed for a few hours.
The Harare district of Warren Park had water for one hour, local sources said.
The city center was reported to have had a steady supply of water.
The Zimbabwe National Water Authority could not be reached for comment as calls to cellular and fixed-line numbers of managers did not connect.
Opposition lawmaker Innocent Gonese, a member of the house committee on local government, said the water failure in Harare as in other cities has numerous causes, and the only remedy is to hand control of water systems back to municipalities.
Parliament has handed control of municipal water and sewage systems across the country to the Zimbabwe National Water Authority, which has been harshly criticized for failing to maintain the flow of water to gross overbilling of households.