Vusumuzi Dube, Online News Editor
A PIPE burst that occurred at the corner of Siyepambili Drive and Luveve Road on Friday has left most of Bulawayo’s high-density suburbs without water, it has been learnt.
Bulawayo has over the years been losing a considerable percentage of its water through pipe bursts and leakages, a situation that has worsened the city’s already dire supply situation. The city is enduring a 72-hour water-shedding schedule as the local authority tries to conserve its available supplies. In the latest development, the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) announced that the burst will affect Cowdray Park, Emakhandeni, Entumbane, Njube, Mpopoma, Lobengula, Matshobana and Mabuthweni.
Bulawayo City Council (BCC)
“The city of Bulawayo would like to advise members of the public that there will be interruption of water supplies due to a burst that occurred on the afternoon of Friday 10 March 2023. The burst occurred at the corner of Siyepambili Drive and Luveve Road, on a 24-inch (600 millimetre) bulk main from Magwegwe Reservoir. Council is working to repair the burst and restore supplies as soon as possible. Residents are urged to continue conserving water. Bulawayo City Council wishes to apologise to its valued consumers for the inconvenience caused,” reads the notice.
Meanwhile, the city’s supply dams continue to be in the red zone, with the local authority revealing that as of yesterday the six dams were at an average of 59,8 percent full, an indication that the city could endure the water shedding regime throughout the year.
According to daily statistics supplied by the local authority Mtshabezi Dam, which has a carrying capacity of 51 996 000 cubic metres is pegged at 83,4 percent of its capacity, Insiza Mayfair, with a carrying capacity of 173 491 000 cubic metres is 77 percent full, Inyankuni, which has a carrying capacity of 80 781 000 cubic metres is 45,2 percent full and Upper Ncema which has a carrying capacity of 45 458 500 cubic metres is 47,3 percent full.
Lower Ncema is 27,7 percent full and Umzingwane, with a carrying capacity of 44 663 500 cubic metres is 17,7 percent full. The city has been under an ever-tightening and gruelling water-shedding exercise since 2019 following successive poor rainy seasons.
However, Government is seized with the prevailing water crisis in Bulawayo and an inter-ministerial committee led by Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Minister Dr Anxious Masuka, has since been set up to find both short and long-term solutions. The completion of the Lake Gwayi-Shangani project will ensure a reliable water supply to Bulawayo for the next 80 years while weaning off some of its supply dams in Matabeleland South to cater for developmental projects in the province.
