Gweru water pumps installations commence

08 Sep, 2019 - 00:09 0 Views
Gweru water pumps installations commence Councillor Josiah Makombe

The Sunday News

Munyaradzi Musiiwa, Midlands Correspondent

GWERU city’s perennial water woes will soon come to an end after it started installing water pumps at its alternative water source, Amapongokwe Dam, that were procured by Government.

The local authority hired a team of engineers from South Africa to install the pumps to ensure that the city’s water supply and distribution returns to normalcy.

The Government through the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Ministry sourced four water pumps for City of Gweru at a cost of US$440 000. In an interview, Gweru Mayor, Councillor Josiah Makombe said the local authority had received pumps purchased from South Africa by Government.

Clr Makombe said the local authority was also working with a team of engineers from South Africa to install the pumps at Amapongokwe Dam. This will bring a total number of pumps at the reserve water source to five and a combined pumping capacity of 80 mega litres of water daily.

“Gweru has a daily demand of water of about 90 mega litres a day. The pumps are already here, they were cleared at the border on Sunday. We are working with a team of engineers from South Africa to install the pumps at Amapongokwe. Once these pumps are installed they will have a collective pumping capacity of 80 mega litres a day together with the one which is already there,” he said. 

Clr Makombe said Gwenoro Dam is now around 14 percent full and left with five or six percent of water that can be pumped. He said once it gets to 10 percent Zimbabwe National Water Authority will decommission it.

Clr Makombe said Amapongokwe water levels could last the city for the next eight months. 

“So we need the pumps for Amapongokwe Dam, which is about 70 percent full. This can take us up to eight months. The pumps we have can meet the city’s daily demand of around 80 to 90 mega litres. Installation has to be done as quickly as possible because Gwenoro is at 14 percent and once it gets to 10 percent it will then be decommissioned,” he said.

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