BY MTHANDAZO NYONI
BULAWAYO city’s supply dams are 70,39% full, with the local authority saying it is progressively moving towards suspending the water-shedding programme.
According to the city’s inflows summary report, the dams were at 70,39% full as at March 5, 2021, which is enough to last for 14 months without council implementing any rationing programme.
Insiza Mayfair was 84,24% full, Upper Ncema (75,29%), Mtshabezi (64,54%), Inyankuni (66,39%), Lower Ncema (44,49%) and Umzingwane (36,22%).
Officiating at the Dan Church Aid water response project ground-breaking ceremony held in the city on Thursday last week, Bulawayo deputy mayor Mlandu Ncube said they would progressively reduce water-shedding.
Ncube said he hoped that by next week, council would be able to provide residents with water on a daily basis.
“We have been able to replace equipment such as the flow serve pumps and conduct various repairs and upgrades to our waterworks.
“We are also grateful that the recent rains allow us to have a bumper harvest,” he said.
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Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water, Climate and Rural Settlement minister Anxious Masuka last week told the National Assembly that urban centres were unlikely to face water challenges this year due to the good rains that have been received so far.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa last week commissioned the Nyamandlovu Epping Forest Water Supply Augmentation Project for Bulawayo which delivers 20 megalitres of water per day as part of efforts to address the city’s persistent water challenges.
Government through the Zimbabwe National Water Authority and other partners worked on the Epping Forest Project.
Output from the Epping Forest project, when combined with that from the Rochester Scheme in Nyamandlovu, has helped bring relief to water-starved Bulawayo.
The city last year decommissioned three of its six main supply dams, Umzingwane, Upper Ncema and Lower Ncema due to low water levels.
The dams have since been recommissioned.
