adminMidlands Bureau
GWERU City Council has courted the ire of residents as it has started working on turning the city and its environs green by watering gardens using purified water from hosepipes while residents live in scarcity .Green areas along the Gweru-Bulawayo highway are some of the areas being worked on. The Town Clerk’s office, however, denied wasting water, arguing that the local authority was using “untreated polluted water” from Ngamo Dam. Most green areas in the city had turned brown as a result of water challenges.
The city council introduced a tight water rationing regime, which included the ban of hosepipes in watering gardens. Residents accused the city council of acting irresponsibly by failing to respect its own rules.
“The city council told us that the city was left with limited water that could last us up to September, if people continue to disregard the water rationing regime. It comes as a big surprise when the same city council which is supposed to effect and defend such laws starts going parallel to their own directives.
“The use of hosepipes should remain a taboo in Gweru until such a time when our water situation improves in our city dams,” said a resident of Lundi Park, Mr Edmore Dhewa. Ms Rudo Nyausaru of Senga suburb said the city council was pumping water for its gardens yet it has been facing challenges in pumping water for residents in high-lying areas.
She said residents were stuck with huge water bills despite having dry taps for years.
“I am greatly concerned with our city council’s action. How do they expect residents to behave after witnessing the council using hosepipes? We are likely to see more people abusing our scant water reserves because of the city council’s action.
“I pray that the city council has a back-up system in the event that our main supply dams run completely dry as earlier intimated to us,” said Ms Nyausaru. However, the town clerk, Mr Daniel Matawu, said the council was using raw water drawn directly from Ngamo Dam to water its lawns and gardens.
He said the water was polluted and not safe for drinking. “We were told to green up our cities and that is what we are doing. The water that we are using is raw water from Ngamo Dam and it is heavily polluted. This is the water that is used to water the Golf Club and at Bata (Shoe Company). We are using this water to green our parks and other green areas in the city,” said Mr Matawu.
The town clerk said the city council would put up notices on all taps that feed from Ngamo Dam to avoid residents using the polluted water for drinking and domestic purposes. Gweru has four supply dams namely, Amapongokwe (40 000 cubic metres), Gwenoro (32 100 cubic metres), Whitewaters (4 896 cubic metres) and Ngamo (1 543 cubic metres).
All the four dams give a full capacity of 78 583 cubic metres in a normal rainy season.
However, according to a council report presented by assistant town clerk Mr Tapiwa Marerwa at a Midlands Business Opportunities Conference recently, only water from Amapongokwe, Gwenoro and Whitewaters is treated. Mr Marerwa told the meeting that the city council needed US$140 000 to sink 36 boreholes as part of drought mitigation measures.
Online Reporter