Online Reporter
Nqobile Tshili, [email protected]
BULAWAYO’s water supply dams have received a cumulative 21 percent inflows since the beginning of the rainy season with water levels rising to 44 percent, according to a latest report.
The water levels are a percent higher than during the same period last year, indicating that the city’s supply dams have not recorded significant inflows despite the heavy rains being received across the country.
Most parts of the country have been receiving heavy rains with some dams spilling but the rains have not translated to improved inflows to Bulawayo’s supply dams.
According to the Bulawayo City Council report, Insiza has recorded 18 percent inflows since the start of the rainy season with Inyakuni recording six percent, Lower Ncema 11 percent, Umzingwane 40 percent and Mtshabezi 46 percent — all translating to a 21 percent cumulative average.
“The global increase to date due to the rains this season is 21,29 percent of overall dam capacity,” said council.
“Upper Ncema Dam gates were opened to release water into Lower Ncema, which had reached a critical low of 9,26 percent on Wednesday 12 of February 2025.”
Bulawayo remains under a 130-hour weekly water shedding programme as part of measures to conserve water.
Bulawayo mayor, Councillor David Coltart, said the city is coming from a dry season and the illegal mining activities have also contributed to reduced inflows into the city’s supply dams.
“We have three main reasons why our inflows are still very low. The first one is that some of our dams such as Umzingwane Dam were now empty and secondly, we are coming from a very dry season, meaning the soil was very dry. The illegal gold mining activities are also contributing to the reduced inflows,” he said.
Clr Coltart said he was hopeful that more rains will be received, which will enable the council to review its water shedding programme.
“As you might have seen, our inflows are one percent higher than they were last year.
“So, it will be foolish to suspend the water shedding programme at the moment. We hope that more rains will be received so that we review the existing schedule,” he said.
The country is expecting more rains until the end of March with the Meteorological Service Department advising that Matabeleland region and Midlands are expected to receive heavy downpours today and tomorrow. — -@nqotshili
