The Sunday News
Robin Muchetu, Senior Reporter
THE City of Bulawayo will suspend water shedding sooner than expected following the inclusion of Epping Forest and Rochetser Scheme in Nyamandlovu in the supply of water to the city.
This comes after 10 boreholes that were under rehabilitation were successfully drilled and equipped.
Mayor of the City, Councillor Solomon Mguni acknowledged that the inflows to supply dams had greatly improved following the good rains experienced since the onset of the rain season.
“We are glad to announce that the coming on of Epping Forrest, combined with output from the Rochester scheme in Nyamandlovu is expected to supply an additional ground water of about 15 megalitres per day going forward.
I am glad to announce that it’s the City’s intention to suspend water shedding earlier than scheduled. However, the current and regular power outages continue to disrupt continuous pumping, destabilizing some of the sensitive reservoirs such as Tuli and Magwegwe,” he said.
Clr Mguni side the aggregated water supply water supply into City is now averaging 135ML/day against the City’s average consumption of 120 ML/day which is adequate to start refilling the city’s distribution reservoirs and be able to fully charge water reticulation system.
He however, lamented a spike in the daily consumption average that the city experienced on Sunday, encouraging residents to save water.
“On the 21st of February 2021, the City experienced the highest water consumption of 167ML/day, a spike that coupled with power outage at both Fernhill and Cowdray Park, resulted in the Tuli and Magwegwe reservoirs collapsing.
“In light of the above, may I call upon the residents of Bulawayo to continue saving water so as to reduce our average consumption to match water supply.
Failure to adhere to set water rationing allocation limits will result in punitive penalties,” he said.
@NyembeziMu
