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Water rationing will run concurrently with the recently announced water-shedding with a stringent schedule that will see residential areas going without water for 24 hours, twice every week.
While water shedding will start on Friday, rationing was tightened on 1 June. Council reportedly made the decision in an effort to prolong the little water left in the city’s five supply dams, until the next rainy season.
One of the city’s five supply dams, Upper Ncema, was decommissioned in March and Umzingwane and Inyankuni are likely to follow soon, which would leave Insiza and Lower Ncema supplying the city.
The decision was approved using statistics that showed the dams held 47,2 percent of their combined capacity as of 27 May.
According to a report by council’s future water supplies committee, the new extensive water rationing schedule would result in the suspension of cropping at Mzinyathini Irrigation Scheme in Umzingwane District and would extend to livestock in municipal areas. The report reads that consumers who exceed their usage limit would be charged a penalty of $2,63 per kilolitre.
“The ration for animals shall be 30 litres a day per horse or head of cattle stabled in premises registered for a specific number of animals,” read the report.
The daily rations for individually metered houses in the city were reduced by 50 litres.
“Houses in the eastern suburbs should now use no more than 350 litres per day, while those in the western suburbs will now use 300 litres, while cottages should not exceed 200 litres everyday,” read the report.
The report shows that commercial water consumers, who were allowed to use up to 80 percent of their average water consumption for the six months ending December 2009, have been reduced to 60 percent.
“Only hotels, hospitals, clinics and water based industries shall be maintained at 80 percent. Industries have been pegged at 75 percent,” read the report.
The report reads that new water connections to properties would remain suspended. “Use of potable water for brick moulding and construction has been banned. Cars may be washed at home using a watering can or bucket at any time of the day or a high pressure cleaning unit, if they are being washed commercially,” the report read.
It shows that council would insert restriction discs into taps for residents who repeatedly used more water than they were allocated. “If consumers exceed their allocation on two consecutive occasions, a restriction disc would be inserted into their taps until the review of the water rationing,” read the report.
Residents were urged to monitor their water consumption daily by taking and recording their meter readings to detect unnecessary loss of water.
Today, council will meet stakeholders in the council chambers at 2.30pm to select a crisis committee to monitor the rationing and shedding schedules.
The committee would also be responsible for material and financial contribution as well as expertise and recommendation of possible solutions, towards the management of the crisis.
Last year, council announced that people caught using domestic water for construction would be fined $1 000 up from $30 and those who use water for brick moulding would also pay $1 000.
The Minister of Finance, Tendai Biti, in delivering his Mid-Term Budget Review Statement last week, said the Mtshabezi pipeline, viewed as the short-term solution to the city’s water problems, would be completed in September.
The Mtshabezi Dam, which has been lying idle since 1994, has a capacity of about 52,2 million cubic metres.
The Minister of Water Resources, Management and Development, Samuel Sipepa Nkomo said the NMZWP viewed as the permanent solution, which has been on the drawing board since 1912, would be completed in three years.
The city is said to be operating with a deficit of about 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