adminWhen council introduced water-shedding in July, its target was to reduce daily water consumption from 133 000 cubic metres a day to at least 95 000 cubic metres but the city’s consumption has just gone down marginally to 123 000 cubic metres.
Council has warned that the city might run dry unless residents reduce daily consumption to at least 95 000 cubic metres. The failure by residents to reduce consumption has forced council to increase the water-shedding to four days a week in all suburbs with effect from today. What is disturbing is that despite the introduction of water-shedding, consumption remains high.
According to the Minister of Water Resources Development and Management, Dr Sipepa Nkomo, residents continue to use more water despite the shedding. Minister Nkomo said residents were hoarding water whenever it is available filling every container available. He said when the water comes residents empty the containers watering gardens and then refill them. He said instead of reducing water consumption, residents were instead wasting the precious liquid. Minister Nkomo said the situation was worsened by increased leakages and burst pipes. Council in a bid to address the problem of increased burst pipes, is installing air release valves.
The Bulawayo City Council has done a lot in trying to address the problem of the city’s dwindling water supplies but as long as residents do not co-operate, not much can be achieved. Bulawayo residents should appreciate the gravity of the problem they are facing and do all within their powers to reduce water consumption. The much-talked about Mtshabezi-Umzingwane pipeline link project, according to Minister Nkomo, will not do much in solving the crisis at hand. The completion of the project can only reduce water-shedding by 24 hours.
The solution to the crisis therefore is drastic reduction in daily water consumption by residents. Companies that have been taking advantage of the fact that they are exempt from water-shedding to sell water to residents should be stopped forthwith. Bulawayo needs water for both domestic and commercial use so it is important for all stakeholders to commit themselves to conserving water so that the little that is left can last us until the next rains.
What Bulawayo residents should appreciate is that their situation is completely different from that of residents in other cities and towns. In these other cities and towns residents are facing water shortage problems not because there is inadequate water in supply dams but because their respective councils are failing to pump enough water to meet demand. In Bulawayo the story is different because the supply dams are drying up.
Two of the city’s five supply dams, Lower Ncema and Umzingwane have been decommissioned and Upper Ncema and Inyankuni are likely to follow soon leaving the city with just Insiza dam. The city is in a crisis and it is therefore incumbent upon all residents, companies and other stakeholders to play their role to conserve the little water left.
Bulawayo should not be allowed to run dry but as we have already stated, the onus is on residents and all other stakeholders to see to it that the city has drastically reduced its daily consumption to even below the recommended 95 000 cubic metres a day.
Online Reporter