adminIt is a cause for concern that some residents are still failing to use water within the rationed limits. We urge Bulawayo residents to play their part in conserving water to avert a disaster. Currently residents are using an average of 123 000 cubic metres of water a day and that explains council’s worry. Bulawayo City Council deserves praise for the manner in which it handles the city’s water problems. The majority of councils in Zimbabwe are battling to provide water to their residents but despite facing perennial water problems, BCC has done its best under the difficult circumstances. Government has said it will not declare Bulawayo a critical water shortage area despite the BCC being forced to adopt water shedding to manage the situation.
On Friday last week the Minister of Water Resources Management and Development Samuel Sipepa Nkomo said there were other cities and towns that had worse water problems than Bulawayo. Stakeholders had felt at a meeting held on Thursday last week that declaring the city a disaster area would open avenues for emergency funding to enable the city complete water projects and permanently solve the crisis.
Minister Nkomo’s assertion should not be mistaken by residents to mean to waste water. The city still faces water problems and residents should continue to save water. Reports that water from Mtshabezi Dam will not change the city’s water schedule also exhorts residents not to relax. Engineer Dube said water from Mtshabezi would not make much of a difference.
Residents associations have taken the initiative to urge their members to help council by playing their part in saving water.
Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association co-ordinator Mr Roderick Fayayo was spot on to call on residents to complement council efforts to conserve water.
Bulawayo United Residents Association chairman Mr Winos Dube encouraged residents to stick to the stipulated limits when using water and to pay their bills to enable council to raise money to rehabilitate water infrastructure. Engineer Dube says water shedding is necessary to prevent a disaster. He said in 2005 council had experimented with not restricting usage with disastrous results.
Despite the water problems in Matabeleland, Bulawayo City Council has been able to provide water to all its residents unlike other councils. Harare is a good example. Residents of places such as Tafara, Mabvuku and other suburbs in the eastern part of Harare have been without water for a number of years. Right now the University of Zimbabwe has failed to open this semester because Harare can only purify and supply about half of its daily water consumption.
Water is essential and if residents do not save it the health hazards spawned by the unavailability of water are scaring to contemplate.
Online Reporter