BULAWAYO - Bulawayo City Council (BCC) is to re-introduce water rationing next week as the city faces another critical water shortage.The council had relaxed water rationing in early 2009 after the city received significant rains which saw most supply dams overflowing.
Howeve,r speaking to The Zimbabwean on Monday, Mayor Patrick Thaba-Moyo said the water situation was now critical and the council had been forced to decommission two supply dams.
The situation is now critical and we are going re-introduce water rationing next week. Although we had a very good rainy season there were insignificant inflows in our supply dams.
We are also going to decommission two of our five supply dams – Umzingwane and Inyakuni dams which received 16, 27 and 9, 47 percent respectively, said Thaba- Moyo.
The decommissioning would leave three dams on the supply line – Insiza, and Lower and Upper Ncema. Bulawayo needs about 135 000 cubic meters of water daily.
Thaba-Moyo said their hopes are lying on the inclusive government that has promised funds to connect Mtshabezi-Umzingwane water pipeline project to the city to end perennial water problems.
The previous Zanu (PF) government has been blamed for turning a blind eye to the water crisis after a Chinese company awarded the tender to construct a pipeline linking the idle Mtshabezi Dam to the city abandoned the project two years ago due to non-payment.
Another option which has been on the cards for over a century is the Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project (MZWP) which requires a staggering US$1, 2 billion. The inclusive government promised to search for funds for the project only after an audit has been done.
Post published in: World News