The Sunday News
Vusumuzi Dube, Online News Editor
THE Government has expressed its commitment to solving the dire water situation in Bulawayo with the immediate solution being directing water from Mtshabezi Dam pipeline straight to Ncema Dam without going through the dry Umzingwane Dam to avoid evaporation losses.
The solution, according to Mayor Councillor David Coltart in the meeting last Wednesday with Local Government and Public Works Minister Cde Winston Chitando, will see the construction of a 2,5km pipeline from Mtshabezi Dam to Ncema Dam at a cost of US$40 million.
The city is going through one of its worst water crisis in the last decade, with indications that the residents could go throughout the year under a water shedding schedule. The council introduced a 120-hour water shedding schedule but has to constantly suspend it for an “as and when available” schedule, determined by water levels at its reservoirs.
Briefing journalists after the meeting, Minister Chitando said the Government was committed to solving the water crisis, and a number of Government officials have been in talks with the local authority over the issue.
Minister Winston Chitando
He said that includes meetings that have been held with the Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, Dr Anxious Masuka.
“Government is committed to ensuring that there is a solution to the water crisis in Bulawayo, my colleague the Minister of Lands, Dr Masuka was here two weeks back to talk about the water situation and I am here again as a follow-up to the discussions which were held by my colleague and the City of Bulawayo. This demonstrates the seriousness with which the Government takes the water supply situation in Bulawayo,” he said.
The minister said during their discussions with council officials they explored a three stage solution to the city’s water situation — short, medium and long term. On the short term, Minister Chitando said there were proposals like increasing security at the Nyamandlovu Aquifer boreholes, with Government facilitating that the city gets investment and also assisting the city get foreign currency for materials.
“The medium-term solution discussed was the issue of Glassblock Dam. From the figures that we were given by Clr Coltart, the dam will increase the inflows of water to Bulawayo by 70 percent. From what the mayor said there will be a 32-kilometre pipeline that will take the water to Ncema as well as the facilities at Ncema that will then take the water to Bulawayo.
“According to the Bulawayo City Council they are planning that this project will be done by 2027, which is in the medium-term. So there are potential private players who are interested to fund this project, there is already a technical committee and financial committee that is looking at the issue, with these committees expected to report by the end of April in terms of the analysis of the medium term solutions. The long-term solution is obviously getting water from Lake Gwayi-Shangani,” said the minister.
Meanwhile, Clr Coltart said council engineers have identified the need to urgently construct a 2,5 kilometre pipeline that will ensure that water from Mtshabezi Dam was not pumped into the already dry Umzingwane Dam.
Councillor David Coltart
He said pumping into Umzingwane Dam, resulted in a lot of water which could otherwise be used to alleviate the already dwindling water levels being lost through evaporation. According to figures provided by the local authority, Mtshabezi Dam is 73 percent full while the decommissioned Umzingwane Dam is three percent full.
“Mtshabezi pipeline needs to be diverted. At present water is going into a dry Umzingwane Dam that increases evaporation losses. So our engineers have advised a diversionary pipeline that is only 2,5 kilometres and there needs to be booster pumps.
“That in turn would increase the amount of water that we get from Mtshabezi. As I have said time and time again, we have actually substantial quantities of water at Mtshabezi. It’s not a big dam but it’s a deep dam and its over 70 percent full, it is our lifeline to get through this winter and the next summer before the next rains but we need to improve that pipeline,” said Clr Coltart.
The mayor further noted that there were other small projects which could be implemented in the short term, which would go a long way in alleviating the water crisis.
“There are other works, which include improving the pumping at Umzingwane Pump Station, improving the pumping at Inyankuni, which still has 30 percent and ideally improving the pipeline from Insiza to Ncema Water Treatment that is not working to full capacity. If we do all of those works, we are satisfied that we can take the city through this drought and through this winter.
“That will require about US$40 million to do that work. We explained to the minister the difficulty we are experiencing with local companies.
“We have to import using hard currency and to that extent, the Zimbabwe dollars that we have already received (through devolution funds), are helpful, but they are not helpful in terms of getting imported pumps and the other equipment that we need to do that work,” said Clr Coltart.
