Vusumuzi Dube
Charity Chikara, Sunday News Reporter
THE Bulawayo City Council has said that Umzingwane dam is set to be decommissioned today (Friday) due to its critically low water levels that stand at 6.67%.
In a statement, BCC noted that the Umzingwane dam has low water levels ,which means council will no longer draw water from it. The dam is situated at Esigodini, about 40 km from the city.
“The city of Bulawayo would like to advise residents, stakeholders, and members of the public that Umzingwane dam (Volume – 6.7%) will be decommissioned on Friday 9 September 2022,” read the statement.
Bulawayo’s water supply continues to be threatened as total operational dam levels stand at 22%, lower than the City’s daily water demand.
“Due to the low levels of Umzingwane dam, the City has been unable to meet its daily demand of 155ML/day. The maximum available raw water supply is currently below 120ML/day. As a result of the gap between demand and supply of 35ML/day, the City has been on water shedding regime which has been progressively implemented from a 48 hour to 72-hour schedule. The supply dams as at Thursday, 8 September 2022 were as follows: Insiza Mayfair 69.47%, Inyankuni 44.97%, Lower Ncema 46.83%, Umzingwane 6.67%, Upper Ncema 7,64%, Mtshabezi 70,71% and total operational dams stand at 50.30%.”
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter