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Pamela Shumba, Senior Reporter
THE Bulawayo City Council will this week announce a position on water shedding after a formal council meeting.
The local authority suspended its water shedding programme on December 23 to allow residents to have uninterrupted supplies during the festive season.
Mrs Nesisa Mpofu, the council’s senior public relations officer said a meeting will be held this week to map the way forward but could not immediately state the exact day when councillors would met.
“A formal meeting will be held before we announce our position on water shedding. The council’s decision will depend on the dam inflows,” she said.
Mrs Mpofu urged residents to continue using water sparingly.
The city council introduced a 72-hour weekly water shedding programme last month citing low water levels in the city’s supply dams. The move sparked outrage as some suburbs went for more than a week without water as council failed to stick to its shedding timetable.
Last week, statistics from the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) showed that a slight increase in water levels had been recorded in Bulawayo’s supply dams.
According to the statistics, the national dam average had risen to 41, 4 percent from 37,7 percent. This water level is well below the 60 percent national average expected at this time of the year.
As of December 30, Upper Ncema in Matabeleland South was at 6,2 percent full after recording a 6,3 percent increase since December 23, while Mtshabezi Dam recorded a 0,1 percent increase over the same period and was at 46,1 percent full.
However, Lower Ncema Dam, which is 11,3 percent full recorded a slight decrease.
Matabeleland North supply dams, Bubi-Lupane and Insukamini in Gwayi remained at 50,7 percent and 44,6 percent while Upper Umguza, also in Gwayi recorded an increase of 1,7 percent and is at 83,7 percent full.
Zinwa also urged water users in all sectors to use the available water sparingly and harvest rainwater.
@pamelashumba1
Online Reporter