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Bulawayo’s supply dams are fast drying up despite the introduction of the three-day a week water shedding for all suburbs last July. One of the city’s supply dams Uppper Ncema has already been decommissioned while Inyankuni and Lower Ncema are likely to follow before the end of next month. This will leave Insiza, the city’s main supply dam, being the only major source of water.
The challenge however is that the pipeline from Insiza Dam can only supply 46 000 cubic metres a day against the city’s daily consumption of 100 000 cubic metres a day under water shedding. The city’s daily consumption without water rationing is 145 000 cubic metres. Plans are under way to construct a duplicate pipeline to increase Insiza Dam’s supply capacity to 71 000 cubic metres a day. The city’s water supply situation remains precarious and there is therefore urgent need to speed up the implementation of projects meant to boost the city’s water supply.
The recently completed Mtshabezi-Umzingwane pipeline will enable the city to draw 17 000 cubic metres of water a day from Mtshabezi Dam but according to the city’s deputy director of Engineering Services, Mr Ian Mthunzi, the supplies from the dam will not have a significant impact on the city’s water supplies because Inyankuni which supplies the city with 25 000 cubic metres a day is likely to be decommissioned before the end of next month.
Mr Mthunzi said the water shedding was likely to be maintained at the same level because a number of projects meant to boost the city’s water supplies are yet to be implemented. He said these included the project to resuscitate boreholes at Nyamandlovu and the project to drill boreholes at Epping Forest. The city is drawing 4 000 cubic metres of water from Nyamandlovu Aquifer daily where less than 30 boreholes out of 56 are operational.
After the completion of the project to rehabilitate the boreholes, the city expects to boost the supply of water from the aquifer to 12 000 cubic metres a day. The planned drilling of boreholes at Epping Forest is expected to bring an additional 10 000 cubic metres a day. The water rationing has impacted negatively on the city’s industrial growth as companies are at times forced to scale down operations as a result of water rationing. Some of the companies have relocated to other cities and towns where adequate water supplies are guaranteed.
Reliable water supply is one of the key factors considered by investors when deciding where to invest. Bulawayo will therefore find it difficult to attract new investors to the city and it also runs the risk of losing even the few companies still operational unless urgent measures are taken to address the challenge of water shortage. Water rationing is undesirable especially to industries that use a lot of water in their operations.
The city council and Government should therefore move with speed to implement the planned projects meant to boost the city’s water supplies. The project to rehabilitate boreholes at the Nyamandlovu Aquifer has been on the cards for too long and it’s time it is implemented.
Bulawayo can only retain its status of being the country’s industrial hub when it has adequate water. We want at this juncture to salute the city’s residents for responding positively to calls to conserve water.
The council and Government on their part should ensure the outstanding projects meant to boost the city’s water supplies are implemented without further delays.
Online Reporter
derick.khumalo