Chronicle Editor
Vusumuzi Dube, Online News Editor
POWER outages experienced in Bulawayo’s major pumping station, Ncema, which lasted 12 hours last Friday, saw the local authority failing to treat water at its Criterion Water Works resulting in water cuts in the entire city.
The city is enduring one of its worst water crisis in recent years that has seen residents going for 120 hours a week without water supplies.
The water-shedding schedule has been further worsened by power outages that have been continuously experienced at its pumping stations, which has resulted in the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) suspending it for an “as and when available” schedule.
In a statement yesterday, the Town Clerk, Mr Christopher Dube said all areas in Bulawayo, save for industry and the Central Business District, will be without water till today.
“The City of Bulawayo would like to advise members of the public of water supply interruptions to all areas in the city including outside areas except industry and the Central Business District.
“This is due to a power supply interruption that occurred at Ncema Pumping Station on Friday, 12 July 2024 that lasted 12 hours. This resulted in no raw water delivery to the city and subsequently no treatment at Criterion Water Works,” said Mr Dube.
He said to ensure that normal treatment and have their reservoir levels replenished, the local authority has decided to suspend the current water shedding schedule and cut off supply to all residential suburbs.
“To protect the supply and distribution reservoirs from collapsing, the City of Bulawayo will temporarily suspend the current water shedding programme and cut off supply to all residential areas.
“Supplies are scheduled to resume Sunday, 14 July 2024 after stabilisation and balancing of reservoirs. The City of Bulawayo wishes to apologise to its valued consumers for the inconvenience caused by the erratic water supplies,” said Mr Dube.
Meanwhile, the local authority further noted that its efforts to ensure areas that go for longer periods without water supplies are serviced by alternative supply of water have been hampered by the non-availability of functional bowsers.
Out of seven bowsers, only three are functional.
“The city has a complement of seven bowsers and currently three are functional. Periodically, the city was hiring bowsers to cater specifically for supplying high-lying areas and funerals. In the month of May 2024, the city hired two bowsers to cater specifically for supplying high-lying areas and funerals,” reads the latest council report.
The local authority also adopted the initiative of the construction of water kiosks to help alleviate the crisis in high-lying areas within the city.
Water kiosks are 15 000-litre Jojo tanks that would be constantly supplied by water bowsers feeding mainly high-lying areas that may go up to the next rainy season without any water supplies. Residents are asked to pay for the water from the kiosks.
“The city has a total of 23 water kiosks installed in the community and 22 within institutions. Two water kiosks in Emakhandeni and Pelandaba were disinfected and commissioned for use. Water was ferried to some of the kiosks using bowsers with others connected to municipal supply. The main challenge faced with water kiosks was that they were reliant on water being conveyed by bowsers as the city was also constrained with water tanker resources,” reads the council report.
Online Reporter