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Judith Phiri, Sunday News Reporter
LANDS and Agriculture minister Dr Anxious Masuka has allayed fears of structural failure after Tugwi-Mukosi started spilling on Sunday.
Tugwi-Mukosi, reached 100 percent and started spilling for the first time since its commissioning in 2017.
After touring the dam on Monday, Minister of Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement, Dr Masuku said the development was historic as it was happening for the first time since the commissioning of the dam in 2017.
Dr Masuku added: “The spilling has raised safety fears especially for communities downstream of the dam. This necessitated my visit to the dam site today (Monday) where I was joined by the Minister of State for Masvingo Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Hon Ezra Chadzamira, on a fact-finding mission to ascertain the exact state affairs with a view to inform the concerned public accordingly.”
The Minister noted that he was glad to advise everyone that from inspections done all the major components of the dam, that is, foundation, embankment, spillway and instrumentation were in good order and performing as per design.
Dr Masuku said all fears of structural failures were cleared and regardless of the spillage the dam still had capacity to harness and hold more water.
“This clears the fear of structural failures on the dam wall or any other technical aspects that may ultimately endanger people downstream of the dam.
“Regarding the spilling, it must be made clear that the Tugwi-Mukosi waters are not spilling over the dam wall but the spill over is through controlled spillways that are dispositioned more than five metres below the dam wall. In actual fact, the dam still has capacity to harness and hold more water,” said Dr Masuku.
The Minister also noted that from a technical assessment and report given on Monday by the Water Resources and Irrigation Development, chief director Engineer Mutazu, and the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) chief executive officer, Engineer Taurai Maurukira, the spillways are currently discharging 20 cubic metres of water per second out of a potential discharge of 545 cubic metres.
“An additional auxiliary spillway, which provide further safety of the dam, is also in place. This goes to buttress the fact that all fears at the present moment regarding the safety of people downstream of the dam should be allayed.
“We are happy that the available Tugwi-Mukosi waters can play a significant role in our Agriculture and Food Systems Transformation Strategy as up to 40 000ha of irrigable land can be sustained by the available water,” added Dr Masuku.
Engineer Maurukira said the dam which now had 1,8 billion cubic metres could still have capacity to manage another 2 billion cubic metres more water as it was in good condition.
Meanwhile, the water authority, Zinwa on Wednesday said dam levels continue on an upward trajectory due to the wet spells being experienced across the country.
The weekly dam levels update showed that Tugwi-Mukosi, Manyuchi, Sebakwe, Zhovhe, Bubi-Lupane, Silalabuhwa and Upper Insiza had reached above and over 100 percent full capacity. Mutirikwi, Manyane, Osborne, Mazvikadei, Manjirenji, Chivero, Insiza, Siya, Inyankuni, Upper Ncema and Harava were ranging between 45 to 99 perecent full capacity. While Kariba, Mtshabezi, Mzingwane, Lower Ncema and Seke were still below 40 perecent full capacity.
The lowest was Mazowe which was at 9.5 percent full supply capacity, the dam whose full capacity is 39.357 millions of cubic metres had 3.737 millions of cubic metres as current capacity.
Online Reporter