Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
1.3
Epworth Settlement - its growth and urban structure
There are three main informal or semi-formal settlements in the Harare area: Hatcliffe
Extension, Epworth and Snake Park (also known as White Cliff). Epworth is the largest
and oldest of these settlements, and is located to the southeast of the city of Harare,
outside the city borders, but within the Harare Metropolitan Province (see Fig. 6.2). This
is a water source area - the headwaters of a tributary of the Manyame River. It has been
well established that contamination of shallow groundwater leads to contamination of
streams that either arise from or flow through the area of contaminated groundwater,
although the extent of
Figure 6.1. Urban agriculture within a
residential land, informal settlement in
Ward 1, Epworth.
groundwater contamination and nature of seepage to surface water controls levels of
stream contamination (Winde & van der Walt 2004). Therefore a study of contamination
of shallow groundwater in Epworth is strategic to diffuse pollution management in the
Harare area.
The Epworth settlement grew up around the Epworth Mission, established by the
Methodist Church in Zimbabwe in 1900. For the first forty years, Epworth was a church
farm with an established population of around 240 people (Clarge 1999). Settlement of
larger numbers of people near the mission began in 1950, starting with 500 (formally
settled) families. During the struggle for independence, many refugees deserted their
