The Sunday News
Vusumuzi Dube, Senior Municipal Reporter
THE Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has eased its water shedding schedule reverting to the 144 hour per week timetable, with indications that they will continue to ease it further as dam inflows continue to rise.
Town Clerk, Mr Christopher Dube said the local authority on Thursday resumed pumping raw water from the dams after the installation of the new non-return valves (NRVs) hence the decision to go back to the 144-hour water shedding schedule. The council had been following a provisional water restoration schedule guided by “as and when water is available”.
“Pumping of raw water from the dams to the reservoirs has resumed. This follows the installation of non-return valves (NRVs) at Ncema and Fernhill pump stations. The improvement of raw water at the Criterion Raw Water Reservoir will facilitate resumption of the formal 144 hour shedding and council will review the shedding going forward and the public will be advised accordingly,” said Mr Dube.
Reverting to the 144-hour schedule means residents are now assured to get water supplies once a week.
Most suburbs in high density areas were going for up to two weeks or a month without the precious liquid under the provisional water restoration schedule.
Mr Dube said council got replacements for faulty non-return valves after engaging their supplier. Council had early in the month failed to commission the new raw water pumps after a test run had revealed that four of the six non-return valves failed due to design and manufacturing defects. The non-return valves have an important function to protect the pumps.
When a pump is switched off or when there is a power outage, the valves prevent backflow from the water in the rising main. If unchecked, backflow causes the pump to spin in reverse which is a potentially damaging action for the pump.
Meanwhile, the local authority has revealed that they have received a global percentage increase of 29,45 percent to their supply dams since the onset of the rainy season.
Three of the city’s six supply dams — Insiza Mayfair, Inyankuni and Upper Ncema — are now above 50 percent full.
According to the latest dam statistics as provided by the Bulawayo City Council, the city’s supply dams stand at 51 percent full with Insiza Mayfair, with a carrying capacity of 173 491 000 cubic metres being 62,4 percent full,
Inyankuni, which has a carrying capacity of 80 781 000 cubic metres is 54,2 percent full and Upper Ncema which has a carrying capacity of 45 458 500 cubic metres is 51,8 percent full.
Mtshabezi, which has a carrying capacity of 51 996 000 cubic metres is pegged at 39 percent of its capacity, with Umzingwane with a carrying capacity of 44 663 500 cubic metres being 25,7 percent full while Lower Ncema which has a carrying capacity of 18 237 700 cubic metres is 24 percent full.
Upper Ncema received the highest percentage inflows since the onset of the rain season having received 46,6 percentage inflows, followed by Insiza Mayfair which received 38,8 percentage inflows while Lower Ncema received the lowest percentage inflows of 16,7 percent.
Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) has revealed that more than half of the country’s major dams are now full and spilling on the backdrop of the rains that the country is receiving. Zinwa corporate communications and marketing manager, Mrs Marjorie Munyonga said the filling up of the dams has since pushed the national dam level average to 82 percent as at last Friday.
She noted that the current dam level average was way above average of 64,2 percent normally expected during this period of the year.
“In terms of catchments, Gwayi-Catchment has a dam level average of 97 percent, Manyame Catchment 67 percent, Mazowe Catchment 52,3 percent, Runde Catchment 89,6 percent, Sanyati Catchment 103,2 percent and Save Catchment 69 percent.
“Major dams that have since passed the 100 percent mark and are spilling include the Gweru Water Supply Dams of Gwenoro, Whitewaters and Amapongokwe. Other major dams that are now either full or spilling include the recently commissioned Marovanyati Dam, Zhovhe Dam, Ngwenya Dam, Pollards, Sebakwe, Claw, Exchange, Bubi-Lupane, Lower Mgusa, Insukamini, Silalabuhwa, Bangala, Mundi-Mataga, Upper Insiza, Padre’s Pool, Muzhwi and Bangazaan,” said Mrs Munyonga
