Chronicle Editor
Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu, Chronicle Reporter
Gwanda residents have urged council to come up with a solution to ensure undisrupted water supply during power cuts.
The town has been experiencing power cuts due to load shedding which has resulted in water supply disruptions. The town’s water system is powered by electricity and during power cuts it cannot pump water to residents.
During prolonged power cuts, residents mostly in the high density suburbs go for days without water.
A resident, Mr Zenzo Nyathi said power cuts were unpredictable and could last for days leaving residents to suffer severe water challenges.
“As residents we suffer water challenges a lot when there is no power. Load shedding will always be there but that doesn’t mean we have to continue suffering as residents because access to water is our basic right. The problem with these water cuts is that they are unpredictable and you can’t plan for them,” he said.
Another resident Mrs Brenda Moyo said she feels that the main cause of the water challenges in the town is the failure by council to deliver.
Mrs Moyo said there was a need for council to improve on service delivery.
Gwanda Residents Association secretary-general Mr Wellington Nare said the water supply challenges during power cuts have dragged on for too long. He said the municipality could not control load shedding but they could address the issue of power at the plant.
Gwanda Mayor, Clr Njabulo Siziba said it was difficult to ensure undisrupted water supply when they experienced daily power cuts.
He said they realised that a lasting solution to the problem would be powering the water treatment plant with solar energy but council does not have funds to implement such a project.
“Our water system needs 36 hours of undisrupted power supply so that the water can be pumped to full capacity. Given the power cuts we have been experiencing of late it means that water supply will be disrupted as we can’t pump enough water,” he said.
“A solution would be setting up a solar plant which can power the water treatment plant. This will however, require a lot of funds which we don’t have at the moment.
“For now, we are concentrating on upgrading the water treatment plant and then we will work on the solar system. We assure residents that the problem will be rectified.”–@DubeMatutu
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