BCC encourages high levels of hygiene

16 Sep, 2018 - 00:09 0 Views
BCC encourages high levels of hygiene File photo: Residents fetch water from a borehole

The Sunday News

File photo: Residents fetch water from a borehole

File photo: Residents fetch water from a borehole

Robin Muchetu, Senior Reporter
THE Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has called for high levels of hygiene saying water supply will only get normal if the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) manages to replace stolen electricity cables in and around the city that were affecting water pumping amid growing fears of cholera among residents.

The city has been grappling with water shortages in recent weeks, resulting in the introduction of a water shedding regime meant to save the available water with complaints from residents that the water shedding programme released by city council was often ignored with other suburbs going for more than 72 hours without water.

“We have gone without water for more than three days now despite the timetable saying we are supposed to endure at most 48 hours without the precious liquid. Water comes at midnight and goes around 3 or 4 am. That was not part of what the timetable states. Other suburbs never run out of water and we wonder how special are they.

“And with the outbreak of cholera I think it’s high time the responsible authorities do something before the situation gets out of hand — like in Harare,” said Ms Albertina Ndlovu, a teacher in Pumula.

Another resident Mrs Millicent Ncube said the city council was not adhering to its timetable and they were afraid of the situation at schools.

The senior public relations officer for the city Mrs Nesisa Mpofu said the long hours were a result of the reservoir levels and urged the residents to be patient as work was in progress to ensure that water supply was restored.

Mrs Mpofu said had it not been for the vandalisation of electricity infrastructure there was not going to be water shedding, adding that the city had not planned to have such a measure.

“You will note that in the advert, we indicated that the programme is subject to change if the reservoir level improves or deteriorates beyond critical level. The shedding is only for 24 hours, meaning residents are prepared in advance to store enough for the day. There are over 355 boreholes around the high density suburbs which also augment supply especially for secondary use (toilet flushing) and they are always encouraged to boil it so that it’s safe for drinking,” she added.

“This is not planned maintenance, but stealing of cables that is happening randomly across the country, so they are difficult to predict and hence difficult to plan for them. However, we are in constant touch with ZETDC as we are working together given the nature of the challenges,” she said.

She explained further: “The City of Bulawayo has been carrying out an exercise to normalise Magwegwe Reservoir level. The level has been critical for some time, due to erratic pumping from Nyamandlovu Aquifer. The boreholes have been affected mainly by power failure and ZETDC has been working to restore the power supply and therefore increase the boreholes pumping to the city.

“In a bid to manage water supply from the Reservoir, council implemented emergency temporary water shedding to areas fed directly from Criterion and Magwegwe Reservoir and some surrounding areas,” she said.

In light of the cholera outbreak that has affected the country the city is still encouraging high levels of hygiene to be practised.

“We are encouraging residents to use safe sources of water and in instances where they have to use borehole water for potable use it should be boiled. Our Health promotion team is also on the ground creating awareness against the spread of cholera.

“Residents should note that cholera and typhoid are both spread through water and food that has been contaminated with human faeces. We encourage good hygiene and all containers storing water should be thoroughly washed and containers must be covered with a lid at all times,” said Mrs Mpofu.

Three suspected cases of cholera were reported on Friday afternoon in Bulawayo and the victims have been quarantined at Thorngrove Infectious Hospital.

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Energy and Power Development Mr Patson Mbiriri said theft and vandalism of ZETDC property was hampering the power company’s plans to extend the national grid as it was spending more on repairing the damaged equipment such as transformers and cables.

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