Lower Ncema, which is 38 percent full, reportedly has alluvial gold deposits.
Councillors said the activities of gold panners and sand poachers would result in the dam being decommissioned earlier than anticipated.
Bulawayo councillors called for urgent action to curb the practice, which they said would worsen the water crisis in the country’s second largest city. Director of Engineering Services, Simela Dube, last Friday told The Zimbabwean that gold panners and sand poachers were contributing to the city’s water woes.