HARARE, July 6 (Reuters) - At least 20 children have died from a diarrhoea outbreak in a Zimbabwe mining town after drinking suspected contaminated water, official media reported on Friday.

The Herald newspaper said the children were from the mining town of Kadoma, about 140 kilometres west of Harare.

"At least 20 children aged between one and five years have died in the past two weeks in Kadoma owing to an acute diarrhoea outbreak that has also affected adults, although no fatalities has been recorded among adults," the Herald said.

Urban areas in Zimbabwe are struggling to provide services to residents as a result of ageing infrastructure -- including burst sewer pipes -- and foreign currency shortages that have hampered importation of raw materials such as water treatment chemicals.

"The town (Kadoma) has been hit by an outbreak of diarrhoea over the past two weeks, but we worked hard to isolate E. coli (bacteria) and we can now safely say the situation is under control," Wenselaus Nyamayaro, a provincial medical director in the area, was quoted by the paper as saying.

The newspaper said investigations had established that the outbreak was caused by a lack of sufficient clean water in the town, which has a population of about 800,000.

Some townships in Kadoma have not been supplied with water for six months, the paper said.

Earlier this year several people contracted cholera in two Harare townships after drinking contaminated water from shallow wells due to a breakdown in municipal services.

Spiralling prices have pushed inflation in Zimbabwe above 4,500 percent, the highest in the world, underscoring an eight-year economic recession that has ravaged urban workers and sparked foreign currency, fuel and food shortages.

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