adminNgonidzashe Chiutsi Sunday News Correspondent
BULAWAYO City Council (BCC)’s water treatment plant, Criterion’s pumping capacity has improved to 90 megalitres of water per day up from 50 megalitres, after it was rehabilitated at a cost of more than $1 million, an official has said. In an interview on the sidelines of a tour of the plant last week, BCC engineer Dhumani Gwetu, said following the rehabilitation of the plant this year, through a fund from the United Kingdom, water supply had vastly improved and the city was no longer shedding water.
“The Criterion plant was commissioned in 1972 with a designed capacity of 90 megalitres a day and what has been happening over the years is that some of the equipment had outlived its life span compromising efficiency resulting in high cost as we were now using large quantities of chemicals,” said Eng Gwetu.
He said the city was now able to provide an uninterrupted water supply to city residents following the completion of the refurbishment of the plant.
“After the rehabilitation, we managed to achieve an output of over 80 percent of design capacity per day. The rehabilitation also translated to more water availability and that’s why we are now having water 24 hours a day. The total money spent over here was over $1 million,” said the official.
UK ambassador to Zimbabwe Mrs Deborah Bronnert said they funded the project after BCC approached them seeking assistance.
“The city of Bulawayo came to us and they said they had serious problems of water and asked for help,” she said.
Mrs Bronnert added that Bulawayo faced severe water shortages in recent years and over 3,5 million pounds had been channelled to address the challenge.
“To help alleviate this problem, DFID provided 3,5 million pounds between March 2013 and February 2014 to increase the supply of clean water and adequate sanitation facilities to around 140 000 residents in the city,” she said and added that the programme was implemented through World Vision in tandem with local NGOs.
Mrs Bronnert said the programme entailed the construction and repair of boreholes, rehabilitation of water treatment and sewage plants.
The programme also involved construction of elevated water tanks and sanitation facilities and replacement of pipes.
The ambassador said UK had other projects it was implementing nationally to improve water and sanitation in the country.
“UK is supporting two major water and sanitation programmes in Zimbabwe, covering both urban and rural areas. In all we are providing a total $85 million to water and sanitation projects in Zimbabwe up to 2015,” she said.
“We have provided over $30 million – the largest donor contribution – to the so-called ZIMFUND, which, under the management of the African Development Bank, is improving water and sanitation infrastructure in urban areas,” said the ambassador.
“In rural areas, we are improving the provision of water and sanitation to the most vulnerable ad poorest people through a $55 million programme with Unicef,” she said.
“DFID target by 2015 is for 1,5 million more people in Zimbabwe to be provided with access to clean water and 1,14 million more people to have access to improved sanitation,” Mrs Bronnert said.
She said they were on track to meet the targets, with $13 million per year earmarked for each of the next two years to support the water sector.
Online Reporter
Londile Moyo