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Vusumuzi Dube, Online News Editor
THE Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has blamed residents for high water bills saying they were hoarding water into Jojo tanks and other storage containers whenever water supplies are restored, thereby surpassing their daily limits and attracting penalties.
The city is enduring a 72-hour water shedding although some suburbs go for a week without water with the local authority attributing that to low inflows and electricity cuts to its pumping stations. According to the water rationing schedule which is in place in Bulawayo, residents with houses in the eastern suburbs are allocated not more than 650 litres per day, while those in the western suburbs are to use 450 litres.
Cottages are allocated 300 litres per day, residential flats with individual meters; 450 litres, and residential flats with bulk meters are allocated 60 percent of average water usage for the six months. Any consumption above the allocation results in a penalty of $3 286 per kilo litre.
However, according to the local authority, some residents now have huge storage tanks from 2 000 to 5 000-litre tanks which they constantly fill up when water supplies are restored.
“This then surpasses their allocated daily amounts and causes high bills,” said BCC corporate communications manager, Mrs Nesisa Mpofu.
The council spokesperson also noted that the reason for huge water bills could be a leaking tap or a burst pipe within some households.
“When the water shedding programme started, Council advised residents of the necessity to close all taps even when there is no water. When there is no water coming out of the tap, the air that is trapped within the water pipes now rolls the metre and comes out of your tap. This movement of the figures subsequently affects the amount of water that is billed. The other challenge we face is when water is shed and taps are left open. Should the water be reopened when you are not in the household, it causes wastage of water as that water now flows through the taps and in most instances at very high pressure,” she said.
Mrs Mpofu said as a local authority they implored residents to report any pipe burst or leak that they may see in their area to minimise the loss of water in the city.
“Residents are encouraged to fix the leaks as soon as possible to avoid water loss and also avoid accumulating high water bills. It is also easy to check for above-the-ground leaks such as dripping taps or leaking toilets. For underground leaks, look for wet patches or green grass.
“The City of Bulawayo fixes leaks which are after the meter such as those on road verges, outside your yard while, leaks inside your property and after the meter must be fixed by the property owner. If one is renting a house, please get the owner of the property to fix the leak as soon as possible,” said the council spokesperson.
Mrs Mpofu also noted that the local authority, as part of its effort to accommodate the less privileged members of the community, provides 5 000 litres of free water to each domestic household per month. This means that if a household uses less than 5 000 litres in a 30-day month they would not pay for the consumption as this water is zero-rated. The council spokesperson also spoke on the reasons the local authority was estimating some bills, noting that; “The reasons for estimating the bills include; premises locked, loose dogs, access denied, stopped meters, no meter but using water, meter covered, meter damaged, meter box locked, impact of Covid-19 and council workload resulting in interim readings.”
Meanwhile, the water levels in Bulawayo’s supply dams are at their second worst in the past nine years with the local authority noting that there has not been a significant improvement in dam inflows over the past few years.
The worst was in 2020 where in the same period, dams were 35,27 percent full. The dams are 59,1 percent full. The city is enduring a serious water crisis forcing it to introduce a 72-hour water shedding schedule. The local authority has attributed the crisis to low inflows and power cuts which have affected pumping resulting in their reservoirs not getting any supplies.
As the situation continued to deteriorate which has seen some suburbs going for over a week without supplies, the local authority had to convene a special council meeting recently where it was revealed that the current crisis was the second worst in the past nine years.
According to the council report, in 2017, the city’s dams had the highest levels at 97,2 percent and since then the levels continued to decline, rising in 2021 when they were at 70,4 percent before dropping to 60,6 percent last year.
“There hasn’t been any significant improvement in dam inflows for the past six years since 2017, power outages that have become frequent and regular since last year November, 2022. Pump breakdowns due to old age and also caused by inappropriate shutdowns due to unforeseen power outages, have also contributed to this crisis.
“Low volume inflows from Nyamandlovu that have been averaging two to three megalitres before January, 2023 and frequent pipe bursts due to opening and closing of water in the system, which weakens the water pipes,” reads the report.
The local authority further noted that vandalism of boreholes in the communities following a very intensive investment in the rehabilitation of hand-pumps and even upgrades from 2019 to 2021, have also caused a challenge in the city.
As part of the strategies to alleviate the current crisis, councillors have suggested the re-building of the raw water reservoir at Criterion to at least above 50 percent available volume to cushion the city against any eventualities that may occur, such as power outages. Councillors have also resolved to hire more water bowsers that will be providing water to problem areas in the city.
“The proposal is to abstract raw water from Umzingwane Dam to increase the delivery of raw water output to Criterion. While this solution would stabilise raw water deliveries, it would also accelerate the decommissioning of Umzingwane Dam, which is expected to be decommissioned by August 2023. “Additionally, three water bowsers have been made available to deliver water to the most critical high areas in the city. The bowser programme will be synchronised with water restoration programmes. Engagements are underway with development partners to avail more resources in the form of funds and in-kind toward improving water delivery and sanitation in the city,” reads the report.
The local authority is also working on the improvement of ground-water output from Nyamandlovu which is around seven to eight megalitres a day to be improved to 10 megalitres per day as power supplies improve.
“The local authority will also engage a contractor to begin repairing hand-pumps across the city starting with critically affected high-lying areas. So far about 57 new boreholes were drilled and equipped between 2020 and 2022 and over 80 boreholes have been rehabilitated and upgraded through the use of donor and council funds. In 2021, and in 2022, a proposal was written to African Development Bank (AfDB) highlighting the investment gaps to the tune of about US$20 million required to improve water pumping capacities, treatment and water conveyance among other interventions,” reads the report.
Online Reporter