Chivi Rural District Council (Water, Sewerage and Drainage) By-laws, 2026

These by-laws give Chivi Rural District Council a complete water, sewerage and drainage regime, from the connection pipe to the sewer to the borehole in the yard.

Nobody may take a water connection without an approved application and payment of the prescribed fee. Once agreed, the council installs and thereafter maintains the connection pipe at its own cost, and may move it on 14 days' notice. Each property in single ownership or separate occupation needs its own connection pipe, though a block of flats or offices may share one where the owner accepts liability and fits a stop-tap on each branch.

Owner, occupier and consumer are jointly and severally liable for the water bill. The council may cut off or restrict supply on not less than one month's notice for non-payment or for wasting, misusing or contaminating the supply, and the consumer then pays both the disconnection and the reconnection charge unless the cut-off was unjustified. A consumer may end the agreement on ten working days' notice; the council may end it on ten days' notice where the supply has been unused for six months, where the by-laws have been broken and not remedied, or where charges are unpaid.

Prepayment meters get their own rules, and they are strictly one-way: no refund once a token has been generated, no refund of remaining credit when a consumer vacates, no reinstatement of credit lost through tampering or abuse, and leaks after the meter are the consumer's cost.

The council undertakes to supply potable water suitable for domestic purposes, but gives no guarantee of pressure at any point — anyone whose premises sit above the level the mains pressure serves must install their own tank or booster pump. Portable meter units drawn from hydrants require a deposit, payment within 15 days, and return in good order, with the consumer liable for the cost of a new unit if it is lost or damaged.

Boreholes are brought under control: applications to the council, conditions on siting, restrictions on drilling times and pumping equipment, rules on the use of borehole water, and a prohibition on cross-connecting a borehole to the council supply. There are also parts on fire-fighting supplies and sprinkler installations, reclaimed water — which carries warning notices, purity standards and a ban on use for vegetables or fruit — and trade effluent, which may only be discharged with approval.

On money, most of the printed fee and penalty schedules are blank: nearly every line reads 0,00. The figures that are stated are sewer connection at US$20 residential, US$30 commercial and US$40 institutional; PK and stone blockages at US$30; a US$50 penalty for a sewer connection without council approval; and US$20 for obstructing an authorised official. Everything else — water connection fees and deposits, meter fees, reconnection charges, illegal connection and meter tampering penalties — is printed as zero, so those amounts should be confirmed with the council before they are relied on. Charges and penalties are payable in local currency at the prevailing interbank rate, and habitual offenders may be prosecuted.