Although many houses in Harare have the infrastructure for piped water, residents reported that water flow into homes was inconsistent, and sometimes as rare as a few hours every two weeks. The infrastructure for piped water in the capital was developed before Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980, when the population was about 600,000. The city’s population is nearly four million today. Old, unmaintained pipes and leaks in both the water and sewage system mean that tap water that does flow can be mixed with sewage. Several residents told Human Rights Watch that adults and children were drinking the tap water even when it smelled bad and they believed it caused diarrhea. To completely replace this piped infrastructure would require US$5 to 6 billion.