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He said council representatives had visited the dam two weeks ago to assess recycling possibilities.
“We also need water to blend with the purified Khami water from the supply dams. This will call for long term heavy investment,” said Mr Nyoni.
He said depending on the cost, water from Khami Dam could be a useful option for Bulawayo especially in times of acute water shortages like the present one.
However, when contacted for further comment on the issue yesterday, Mr Nyoni declined to elaborate.
“I do not wish to speak on the matter. It is the farthest thing from my mind in the face of the present water crisis in the city,” he said.
However, the Mayor, Councillor Thaba Moyo, said it would be “unethical” to make residents drink the water.
“I should not be wasting time talking about water from Khami Dam, but if the city has resources to purify the water, it should only be used for urban agriculture. I feel it would be wrong to make residents drink it,” said Clr Moyo.
When the use of Khami water was suggested by the Minister of Water Resources, Management and Development, Samuel Sipepa Nkomo, last year, Bulawayo councillors from his own MDC-T party said he should drink the water himself, if he was so keen on it.
Khami Dam is almost always full to capacity, largely because it receives water deposits from sewers and industrial waste.
The idea to recycle water from Khami Dam, which was decommissioned in 1988, was first mooted by the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) in 2007.
It was promptly shot down by a number of Bulawayo politicians including Zanu-PF Politburo member Dr Sikhanyiso Ndlovu and Dr Dumiso Dabengwa.
Dr Ndlovu ruled out the use of water from the dam for any purpose, saying a shrine should be erected at the site, as a monument to freedom fighters who were killed and thrown into the dam by the Ian Smith regime.
Dr Dabengwa said that those who wanted to recycle the water should proceed with the idea and drink the recycled water alone and leave Bulawayo residents alone.
Bulawayo’s deputy mayor, Clr Amen Mpofu, said the council would not be part of the strange move to recycle water from Khami Dam.
The Governor and Resident Minister for Bulawayo Metropolitan Province, Cde Cain Mathema, also dismissed the Khami proposal saying residents should not be made to use water “we are unsure of.”
In the face of stiff resistance, Minister Nkomo later made a U-turn on his statement that water from Khami Dam should be recycled for potable use in Bulawayo.
He said he had been misunderstood when he was quoted making the suggestion during the National Water Day Commemorations in Gweru.
Minister Nkomo said he meant the water should be considered for use in things like irrigation programmes, firefighting, flushing toilets and road works.
Online Reporter