First hurdle crossed for new dam at Bulawayo?

The Rhodesia Herald,
June 29, 1971
THE site and foundations investigation for a big new dam on the Insiza River to augment Bulawayo’s water supplies has, it is understood, been completed. The site is believed to be at Mayfair.

For the next year, or longer, only paper work will be done on the project, the detailed work of designing the big dam, hydrological assessment and possibly a study of the administration requirements.

“There is no hurry about the dam,” said a spokesman for the Ministry of Water Development today.

When it comes to considering policy, the Government will doubtless be reminded that if Bulawayo City Council is to be the major consumer of Insiza water, it wants to control the dam.

The Insiza (Mayfair) Dam will be a multi-purpose dam, the Ministry of Water Development has said. The Ministry is to build it.

Farmers along the river are hoping for an allocation of irrigation water.

The Ministry has said the dam is being built with Bulawayo’s growing water consumption in mind. But Bulawayo City Council has not yet shared a dam with any other authority and does not wish to.

The dam is likely to have a capacity of about 30 000m gallons.

LESSONS FOR TODAY

Bulawayo City Council’s water woes have gone on for too long.

Insiza Dam was eventually built in 1973 with a full supply capacity of 173,491 million cubic millimetres.

The Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project was started as a long-term solution to ameliorate the perennial water crisis.

Water is life. When residents cannot access clean and safe water as easily as they should, it is a recipe for disaster that can lead to water-borne diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea, typhoid fever, dysentery, hepatitis A, etc.

This can lead to hospitalisation and even death.

President Mnangagwa has since indicated that Bulawayo’s water problems must be addressed as a matter of urgency.

Whatever mitigations are embarked on to address the water challenges should take into consideration the effects of climate change on the country’s water supply systems.