Robin Muchetu, Senior Reporter
PUBLIC institutions in Bulawayo have been severely affected by the current water crisis in the city, with service providers indicating that they cannot isolate these critical facilities from the broader community to ensure uninterrupted access.
Bulawayo is grappling with severe water shortages, leading to prolonged outages in many areas and raising concerns about potential disease outbreaks such as cholera and typhoid due to the lack of clean water.
While the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) acknowledges the severity of the water crisis, they have stated that it is not feasible to connect schools and similar institutions separately to exempt them from water-shedding measures.
The city is currently enduring a 120-hour water shedding schedule which is likely to be increased to 144 hours with the local authority recently announcing that two of its supply dams — Upper Ncema and Lower Ncema — will be decommissioned this month.
BCC’s corporate communications manager, Mrs Nesisa Mpofu said it was difficult to ensure uninterrupted supply to schools due to their spatial distribution across the city.
“Schools are located within the residential areas and are on the same water lines as the nearby residential areas. However, we prioritise schools and tertiary institutions in our water distribution efforts, especially during critical periods like the start of the school calendar,” she said.
She revealed that they have also implemented several strategies such as backup systems, water trucking and partnerships to help alleviate the crisis within schools and tertiary institutions.
“Many of these facilities are equipped with boreholes and elevated water tanks to store a reasonable amount of water, primarily for flushing toilets and drinking. We have been utilising water trucking to deliver water to schools in areas with limited supply, prioritising those with the most urgent needs.
“We encourage Schools Development Committees to explore additional resources and collaborate with the City to address water shortages. We are also seeking support from businesses and donors to help alleviate the water crisis and ensure essential services like education are not disrupted,” said Mrs Mpofu.
She said they also encourage these institutions to implement water conservation measures to optimise their usage.
Meanwhile, Mpilo Central Hospital Chief Medical Officer, Dr Narcisius Dzvanga said the institution has not been spared regarding water and electricity challenges in the city.
“Power cuts affect the entire hospital; I wrote to our parent ministry to ask to be exempted from power outages. There were several excuses from the service providers, that the lines that pass through here cannot be separated, same as the water supply.
“On water, we cannot be stand-alone entities that are exempted from water cuts but the Mayor of the City says it is possible for water to be dedicated to Mpilo without disconnecting us. Zesa also has several excuses but Minister to Minister, they may help us, all hospitals not just Mpilo. At Cabinet level they have said that all health institutions should be exempted from power outages and water cuts,” he said.
Dr Dzvanga said the hospital is currently awaiting the delivery of a power cable from Germany, which will connect the hospital to a 350-kilowatt solar power system at the institution that has since been installed.
Engineer Lawrence Nhandara from the Faculty of Built Environment at the National University of Science and Technology (Nust) said the council must innovate and provide water to key institutions.
“The word ‘impossible’ or ‘cannot be done’ should not be found in the vocabulary of the City Council which has an engineering department full of engineers. I am not sure when the city’s main water reticulation system was established but what I am sure about is that the city’s infrastructure has outgrown what the water system was initially built for.
“As a result, the council must be creative in coming up with tailor-made solutions to alleviate water crisis, especially amongst schools, clinics, police stations and other areas of societal importance. This can be done of course at a once-off cost through inserting valves at appropriate junctions so that life is normal for public areas throughout the city,” said Eng Nhandara.
The Government is also on record emphasising the need for all health institutions to solarise as there are concerns that some facilities are affected by load shedding with efforts being made to ensure that all health facilities that use prepaid electricity also migrate to alternative energy sources. — @NyembeziMu