Brace for prolonged periods with dry taps: Bulawayo City Council tells residents

BULAWAYO residents are expected to experience long periods without water as repairs and maintenance that were being done at Ncema Water Works have taken longer than anticipated.

The council is implementing a city-wide five-day water-shedding programme due to low water levels in the city’s supply dams.

The city’s dams are just over 40 percent full and it does not seem there will be serious inflows to change the water situation as the dry spell is persisting.

However, the programme was disrupted last Friday owing to the ongoing repairs at Ncema Water Works.

In a statement yesterday, Bulawayo Town Clerk Mr Christopher Dube said the council is unable to restore water supplies to their normal weekly shedding programme due to unforeseen challenges.

“The City of Bulawayo would like to advise members of the public of the extended water supply interruptions and suspension of the 120-hour shedding to all City areas except Industry and Central Business District (CBD) which was initially scheduled to finish Friday, 16 February 2024. Due to unforeseen circumstances, the repairs and maintenance works at Ncema have taken longer than planned. The city will continue to experience reduced raw water pumping to the city, which in turn will cause a reduction in treated water production during the scheduled time,” said Mr Dube.

He said the delays in reopening water systems are meant to protect the reservoirs from collapsing due to a reduction in raw water deliveries and treatment.

Mr Dube said the council will periodically open water supplies.

“The City of Bulawayo will irregularly open water supplies to alleviate communities from stretching too long without water. Supplies are expected to be restored after the reservoirs are fed and stabilised. The City of Bulawayo wishes to apologise to its valued consumers for the inconvenience likely to be caused,” said Mr Dube.

-@nqotshili