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Peter Matika
Herald Reporter
BULAWAYO is grappling with a worsening water crisis as the city is today expected to decommission Upper Ncema Dam, a crucial part of the city’s water supply system.
The Bulawayo City Council (BCC) made the decision to preserve the rapidly depleting water resources, following the decommissioning of Umzingwane Dam last November.
According to BCC’s latest statistics, the total dam capacity as of yesterday stood at just 28,16 percent. The figures paint a dire picture, with Insiza Dam holding 40,33 percent, Inyankuni at 18.07 percent, Lower Ncema at 21.46 percent, and Mtshabezi at 50.79 percent, while both Umzingwane and Upper Ncema have now been decommissioned.
In a statement yesterday, the city’s acting town clerk, Mr Tennyson Mpunzi, said Upper Ncema, which was supposed to support Lower Ncema during the dry season, was opened prematurely in August due to ongoing drought conditions.
“However, due to the ongoing drought, the dam gates had to be opened prematurely on August 28, 2024. Consequently, the Upper Ncema Dam has reached its non-operational level (dead-water level) and will be decommissioned effective October 3, 2024,” he said.
Mr Mpunzi said decommissioning of the Upper Ncema will exacerbate the city’s water supply challenges. He emphasised the urgency of conserving water, urging residents to take immediate action.
The decommissioning of Upper Ncema adds to Bulawayo’s escalating water woes. The city is already enduring a 120-hour water-rationing schedule, which has failed in some areas, leaving residents without water for extended periods. Only 23 out of 40 Nyamandlovu Aquifer boreholes are operational, further straining the supply.
Parliamentarians visiting Bulawayo last week witnessed first-hand the severity of the situation. They were informed that Lower Ncema is also expected to be decommissioned by November, leaving the city reliant on the Insiza and Mtshabezi dams, as well as inflows from the Nyamandlovu Aquifer, which are also insufficient.
Decommissioning both Ncema dams could lead to a loss of 35 million litres of water per day.
A joint Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Local Government, Public Works and National Housing and a committee on Sustainable Development Goals met BCC officials and councillors last month and conducted a tour of supply dams and Nyamandlovu Aquifer boreholes.
The committee also toured the Lake Gwayi-Shangani project in Hwange district and is urgently expected to make urgent recommendations to the Government.
During the tour, councillors dispelled allegations that the city’s supply dams were silted, noting that the major challenge was upstream gold panning activities and diversion of tributaries.
Gold panners have wreaked havoc mainly on the Umzingwane River catchment and the council has lobbied for the deployment of soldiers to manage the situation.
“Over the last three years, we started having some disturbing mining activities upstream and we have gone there with policymakers and they have observed the huge pits from mining activities,” said BCC’s director of Water and Sanitation, Engineer Sikhumbuzo Ncube.
“It’s a massive operation and we believe it’s one of the contributors to why we are now realising bad inflows. Of course, we had a bad rainy season but inflows are not so good and this is one of the engagements at a high level that we think can assist clear the illegal mining activities.”
He said council pumps, which for decades have never faced a threat from vandalism, are also being threatened by gold panners resulting in additional security costs to protect the critical infrastructure.
Eng Dube said the council is installing new pumps at Umzingwane and the project is expected to be completed by the end of this month.
“Should funds be provided, the council will improve the pumping capacity at Mtshabezi, which still has water,” he said.
BCC chamber secretary, Mrs Sikhangele Zhou said the levels of the city’s supply dams have dropped to 28 percent and urged legislators to lobby the Treasury to release US$14 million to avert disaster.
Bulawayo mayor, Councillor David Coltart said while they continued to grapple with solutions to the crisis, considerable progress had been made on the Glassblock Dam project, which is considered a medium-term solution.
The dam is envisaged to increase the inflows of water to Bulawayo by 70 percent.
Bulawayo is faced with one of its worst water crises in recent years due to the El Nino-induced drought, which saw low rainfalls across the country resulting in considerably low inflows into the city’s six supply dams.
BCC has also since tightened its water rationing regime and introduced punitive fines for those exceeding daily expected limits.
The stringent measures contained in the latest council report include the reduction of the present free water allocation of 5 000 litres per month by 40 percent to 3 000 litres meant to ensure the availability of the precious liquid right through the year.
Residents will further pay US$4,13 per kilolitre, which they use outside of their daily allocation.
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