Chronicle Editor
Vusumuzi Dube, Senior Municipal Reporter
AS Bulawayo’s water situation continues to worsen, the city’s future water supplies and water action committee has failed to sit in the past three months with councillors claiming there were other important meetings they had to prioritise.
The revelations were made last Wednesday during a full council meeting when the council committee presented its report to fellow councillors, three months after it was tabled to council.
“I would like to commend this committee for having had their first meeting in three months, we hope that going forward they will now meet frequently to help map a way forward in terms of water availability in the city,” said Ward One councillor, Mlandu Ncube.
However, most councillors expressed outrage at the committee’s failure to meet saying it was giving a picture that the city was not serious in terms of identifying a lasting solution to the city’s perennial water crisis. The councillors noted that the future water supplies and water action committee was a strategic committee that was relevant, considering the water woes being faced by the city.
“It is honestly shocking that at such a point such a strategic committee has failed to convene in the entire three months. This is the very committee that is meant to work with management in dealing with water problems bedevilling the city. Further, this committee does not only focus on the current but are tasked with mapping the future of the city in terms of water supplies, something is honestly amiss in all this,” said Clr Silas Chigora of Ward Four.
In defending their failure to meet the future water supplies and water action council committee deputy chairperson, Clr Siboniso Khumalo, who seemed unfazed by this anomaly said they had other important and strategic meetings they had to sit in outside the water committee.
“We cannot be sitting for this meeting every day or month because there were other strategic meetings,” said Clr Khumalo.
Members of the future water supplies and water action committee are, Clr Khumalo, Clr Sikhululekile Moyo, who is the chairperson, the mayor, Clr Solomon Mguni, Alderman Norman Hlabani, Clr Arnold Batirai, Clr Joyce Ndlovu and Clr Mzamo Dube. During the meeting Clr Batirai, Clr Ndlovu and Clr Dube were absent.
Meanwhile, according to the latest dam statistics provided by the local authority, the city’s supply dams did not receive any inflows from the rains experienced in the region recently with the dams standing at 34,2 percent full. The figure is actually a drop from last month as by then the dams stood at 35,39 percent full.
Mtshabezi which has a capacity of 51 996 000 cubic metres still has the highest levels at 57,35 percent full, a figure which reduced from 57,40 percent last month, Inyankuni, which has a carrying capacity of 80 781 000 cubic metres is 51,66 percent full a drop from 52,44 percent last month and Insiza Mayfair, with a carrying capacity of 173 491 000 cubic metres is 36,51 percent full a drop from 37,16 percent last month.
Lower Ncema which has a carrying capacity of 18 237 700 cubic metres is pegged at 15,85 percent full a drop from 17,17 percent last month, Umzingwane with a carrying capacity of 44 663 500 cubic metres has remained stagnant at 4,48 while Upper Ncema which has a carrying capacity of 45 458 500 cubic metres has dropped to 4,74 percent from 10,85 percent last month.
“The low overall storage was still attributable to the fact that at the end of the last rainy season, the catchment had an average storage of 61,7 percent. Over the past months depletion due to natural losses, lack of significant inflows in the new rainy season and abstraction had led to the decommissioning of Upper Ncema in July and Umzingwane in November. The current consumption trend was at an average of 130 mega litres a day attributable to the heightened weekly shedding hours though on some weekends and non-shedding the city realised unrestricted consumptions of up to 150 mega litres a day,” reads the council report.
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