Bulawayo explores suburban aquifers to beat water shortages

BULAWAYO City Council (BCC) is considering tapping into aquifers in Nkulumane and Nketa suburbs, as well as Hope Fountain on the outskirts of the city, in response to severe water shortages caused by drought, leaving residents without water for weeks or even months.

A feasibility study is already underway to determine the viability of the suburban water aquifer option among other short-to-medium-term options. Amid the dwindling water levels at major supply dams due to poor inflows last season, the local authority is drawing over 10 megalitres of its water from boreholes in the Nyamandlovu and Epping Forest Aquifer to bridge the gap.

Nkulumane, Nketa, and Hope Fountain are considered to have huge underground water reserves and the council is conducting investigations to ascertain the sustainability of tapping into these resources.

Bulawayo is experiencing biting water shortages this year due to successive poor rainfall seasons, which has seen the city’s water levels dropping to about 30 percent, nearly 20 percent lower than what the situation was last year during the same period.

The council is implementing a 120-hour weekly water shedding programme to manage the depleting resource and often this arrangement is not adhered to as most suburbs go for weeks with dry taps.

Yesterday the council held a no-holds-barred stakeholder meeting on water where it unpacked the critical situation and the measures being explored to ease the burden on ratepayers.

Director of Engineering Services, Engineer Sikhumbuzo Ncube, detailed how the water situation could likely worsen as the council expects to decommission Upper Ncema Dam, which is strategic in balancing water supplies in the city.

Council has already decommissioned Umzingwane Dam which is two percent full. Eng Ncube said riding on President Mnangagwa’s state of disaster declaration the council has approached seven embassies and two international financing organisations in a bid to attract funding to address the city’s water crisis.

“We wrote letters to seven different embassies, the British Embassy, the United States Embassy, European Union Embassy, Chinese Embassy, Dutch Embassy, Swedish Embassy and also the Belgian Embassy and each of the letters that we sent were accompanied by a proposal of US$55 million,” said Eng Ncube.

“We have also engaged the African Development Bank and World Bank.”

He said the council was proposing funding ranging from US$15 million to US$55 million and indicated that the response so far was positive and that secured funding would be channelled rightfully.

Eng Ncube said the council has already received $134 000, which will be used for repairing Magwegwe reservoir leakages. Council is also exploring abstraction of underground water in Nketa and Nkulumane, which in turn can result in setting up a reservoir for those areas, he added.

“We also secured $310 000 and this money is going to explore groundwater potential, around Nkulumane and Nketa areas. Nkulumane and Nketa have the best underground water in the city.

“As opposed to just using boreholes, we want to create a mini-Nyamandlovu in Nketa and Nkulumane where we will extract that water for possible purification and usage,” said Eng Ncube. “Currently, the steps that we have taken; the tenders were awarded to assess the water potential in Nkulumane as well as Hope Fountain.

“So, these are some of the interventions that we are doing. Thereafter, if the feasibility study is favourable boreholes will be drilled and equipped, and reservoirs installed. It would be more of a decentralised water treatment plant, which will supply Emganwini, Nketa, and Nkulumane.”

Eng Ncube said the council is likely to decommission Lower Ncema Dam in September after Umzingwane was cut off in November last year.

“But I want to explain this, we have Upper Ncema Dam, which we reserve for October as the last resort reservoir to release water into Lower Ncema but because of the current crisis, we had to release some of the water in June. As we speak right now there are plans to release that water to Lower Ncema,” he said.

“The moment we do that by mid-September we will be reporting that we have decommissioned Lower Ncema.”

Eng Ncube said while the council has implemented several water conservation strategies including water shedding, these measures have also increased the frequency of pipe bursts.

He said as a result of increased pipe bursts, the council has contracted private companies to ease the burden. Bulawayo mayor, Councillor David Coltart, said the growing city population has exacerbated the water crisis.

“The gap between water supply and demand has been widening and we need to understand that fact. We have experienced the reality of climate change. We have not just experienced the reduction in rainfall but all of us this winter, we experienced one of the hottest winters we have ever had,” he said.

“What that does is that it increases evaporation. We have experienced heightened evaporations that are unprecedented and that is further compounded by the fact that our water catchment areas are no longer secure.”

Clr Coltart also bemoaned the spate of vandalism of critical water and sewer infrastructure, and called for stiffer penalties against perpetrators.

He commended the Government for partially releasing funds needed to address the city’s water infrastructure and appealed for more budgetary support. — @nqotshili