The Sunday News
Vusumuzi Dube/Judith Phiri/Nozipho Rutsate, Sunday News Reporters
THE Bulawayo City Council has reviewed upwards its water shedding regime to 48 hours a week from 36 hours as the water situation in the city continues to deteriorate.
The local authority, which introduced a 36-hour water shedding schedule last Tuesday, was forced to cut off residents for a further 24 hours over the weekend after realising that the initial 36 hours was not adequate and water levels within their reservoirs remained low.
In a statement, the local authority’s Town Clerk, Mr Christopher Dube, revealed that the council had to further review the water rationing levels to conserve the water available.
“The City of Bulawayo would like to advise members of the public that council will continue shedding water into the weekend on a 24-hour regime, that is, from the 02 February 2019 to 03 February 2019. This is as a result of the low reservoir levels at both the Raw Water and
Treated Water Reservoirs at Criterion Water Works, the city’s largest water treatment plant.
“On the same note, residents are informed that water consumption remains very high despite the shedding programme, with consumption currently averaging between 128 and 135 mega litres a day against a system input of 108 mega litres a day. In addition, the water rationing allocations have since been reviewed downwards across all water users; therefore, residents are being urged to use water sparingly to avoid water penalties in the near future,” said Mr Dube.
He said as the council tries to bring the water consumption levels down, water shedding period has been increased to 48 hours as from tomorrow.
“After the weekend, the shedding programme is being reviewed upwards to 48 hours. This has been necessitated by outstanding repair works at the booster stations, located at the dams. Orders have been placed to procure the requisite materials from South Africa. Once repairs are complete, normal pumping should resume and provide adequate time for the City’s major Raw Water Reservoir at Criterion to build-up its buffer storage. This recovery process is anticipated to take at least two weeks,” said the Town Clerk.
According to the schedule, areas that feed from Criterion Reservoir, Nkulumane, Nketa, Sizinda, Tshabalala, Bellevue, Newton West and West Somerton will experience water cuts on Monday from 7.30am and it will be restored Tuesday at 7.30pm.
For Emganwini, Pumula and Nketa 9 supplies would be cut on Wednesday at 7.30am and restored on Thursday 7.30pm.
Mr Dube said in Cowdray Park, Emakhandeni, Gwabalanda and Maplanka water would be cut on Monday at 7.30am and be restored on Wednesday at 7.30am.
Areas that are feed from the Magwegwe reservoir such as Luveve, Magwegwe, Njube, Entumbane, Mpopoma, Lobengula, Mabutweni, Iminyela, Pelandaba and Matshobana will not have water from Wednesday 7.30am until Friday 7.30am.
Mr Dube said in Lochview, Sunninghill, Marlands, Glencoe, Riverside, Waterford, Manningdale, Willsgrove, Buenavista and Douglasdale water would be cut at 7.30am on Thursdays and pumped at 7.30am on Saturdays.
Esigodini, Imbizo Barracks, Fortunesgate, Selbourne Park, Matsheumhlophe, Parklands, Kumalo, Suburbs, Mahatshula, Woodville, Kingsdale and Queenspark will have no water from Tuesday at 7.30am until Thursday 7.30am. These areas are fed from the Tuli reservoirs.
In Harrisvale, Jungle, Trenance, Richmond, Sauerstown, Neqi, water will also be cut at 7.30am on Wednesday and restored 7.30am on Friday.
He also noted that Barbourfields, Mzilikazi, Nguboyenja and Makokoba feed from the Rifle Range reservoir, Hillside South, South Riding, Fourwinds, Hillside, North End, Tegela, Romney Park, Paddonhurst, Sunnyside, Morningside, Rowena, Montrose, Southwold, Greenhill, Barham Green, Kenilworth, Ilanda and Burnside fed from the 6J and Hillside reservoir, Mbalabala Barracks and Mzinyathini irrigation scheme fed from Raw Water will have no water supplies from Mondays 7.30am until Wednesday at 7.30am.
Meanwhile, in one of Bulawayo’s western suburbs, Pumula East, residents have gone for four consecutive days without water and are relying on city council water bowsers.
Sunday News took a tour around the suburb and witnessed women and children queuing with their water containers under the scorching sun in anticipation of the water bowser.
“We had no water since Tuesday and water bowsers are not coming with water on a daily basis. This water issue poses a threat of a cholera outbreak in our community,” said a resident.
“We are now using sewage water to flush our toilets due to the water crisis here. On a daily basis, we can only afford to drink a maximum of one litre of water per each family member in order to save and this is not healthy,” said another resident.
The residents appealed to the local authority to drill more community boreholes that would serve their needs.
