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“The water-shedding programme has not started in Bulawayo yet. We will inform the residents when that happens,” said Eng Dube.
The council’s senior public relations officer, Mrs Nesisa Mpofu, said although councillors had embraced the decision, the local authority was not ready for its implementation.
She said the local authority was working on mobilising resources and putting logistics in place to ensure that residents would be cushioned when the programme starts.
“The decision was adopted but what is happening now is that council is putting in place logistics in preparation for the implementation of the programme.
“We are still at the planning stage and residents will be informed when we are ready. We need to mobilise resources such as bowsers and see how they will be distributed when the programme starts,” said Mrs Mpofu.
However, yesterday some residents from western suburbs such as Emakhandeni, Cowdray Park and Entumbane kept calling the Chronicle newsroom seeking clarity over the issue, with others saying the programme had started.
Eng Dube said there was no water shedding in those areas.
“There is no water shedding and the cases that residents are referring to could be of faults,” he said.
Ward 11 Councillor Nduna Dladla, which covers Emakhandeni, said the water shedding programme had not started.
He said residents who were crying foul could have been disconnected for defaulting.
“The only people that I know do not have water are those who have been disconnected for non-payment. Otherwise water shedding has not started yet,” said Clr Dladla.
Many residents have already started storing water in containers in anticipation of the proposed water cuts.
The council released its water shedding schedule last week as an emergency measure to conserve the dwindling water levels at its supply dams.
The local authority has come up with measures to mitigate the effects of water shedding, which include the setting up of a water crisis committee and installation of 25 500-cubic water tanks at schools and clinics.
According to the schedule residents will go for 16 hours a week without running water.
Water would be cut twice weekly in all suburbs, from 7am to 3.30pm.
Only industrial sites and the central business district would be exempt from shedding.
There will also be no water shedding in all areas on Sundays.
The decision to cut water supplies was adopted in the wake of uncertainty on the commissioning of the Mtshabezi-Umzingwane pipeline project, viewed as the short-term solution to the city’s perennial water woes.
The Ministry of Water Resources Development and Management has failed to meet last month’s deadline for the project.
Ironically, the Ministry of Water is the Government department that owes council the most with a debt of $2,2 million out of nearly $4 million owed by 13 Government departments.
Water shedding is the deliberate cutting of water supplies to certain areas for a period of time.
It differs from water rationing whereby a fixed limit of water usage is set and anyone who uses water above the given limit is penalised.
Bulawayo councillors adopted water shedding as a last resort following the decommissioning of Upper Ncema Dam, which left four supply dams, Insiza, Inyankuni, Lower Ncema and Umzingwane supplying the city.
Umzingwane is set to be decommissioned soon. The city is in a dilemma as about 80 percent of its water is held in Insiza Dam.
However, the dam has small delivery pipes that cannot pump enough water to meet the city’s demand.
Councillors were reportedly opposed to water shedding, saying past experience had shown that water shedding led to system blockage that increased the frequency of pipe bursts.
However, statistics on water at dams eventually convinced them to adopt the programme.
Bulawayo is said to be operating with a deficit of four dams as an additional supply dam is supposed to be constructed after every 10 years. The last supply dam to be constructed and used by the city was Insiza in 1976.
Online Reporter