GOVERNMENT is seized with the prevailing water crisis in Bulawayo and an inter-ministerial committee led by Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Settlement Minister Dr Anxious Masuka, has been set up to find both short and long term solutions.
Bulawayo has been hit by a serious water crisis with most suburbs going for over a week without running water, amid fears of disease outbreak.
The crisis has also led to residents travelling long distances to fetch water.
The disruption in the water supply has been caused by prolonged hours of electricity shedding.
Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has temporarily suspended its 72-hour water-shedding schedule due to water supply interruptions emanating from persistent power outages that have seen council failing to pump enough water from its supply dams into reservoirs.
Zimbabwe is presently facing acute power shortages which have seen consumers going for long hours, outside the normal load-shedding periods, without electricity.
The situation, caused initially by frequent breakdowns at Hwange Thermal Station, has been compounded by the water shortages in Lake Kariba resulting in a cut back at Kariba South Power Station, which provides the bulk of Zimbabwe’s electricity supplies.
The Zambezi River Authority, which runs Kariba Dam, wrote to the Zimbabwe Power Company last week directing it to stop generating electricity until at least January, when water levels are expected to have picked up.
This was, however, modified to allow Zesa to generate 300MW, a major help but still leaving Zimbabwe short and getting half what it ws looking at from Kariba.
Only the industrial site and the city’s central business district has been spared from power cuts.
Before the latest development, BCC implemented a weekly 72-hour water-shedding programme to preserve water.
On top of the power crises, over 60 000 Bulawayo residents have been affected by theft and vandalism of electricity infrastructure at Epping Forest and Rochester Aquifer in Nyamandlovu resulting in the city pumping 3 megalitres per day from the targeted 20ML per day.
Local Government and Public Works Minister July Moyo said an inter-ministerial committee to look into the water crisis has been set up to come up with recommendations.
“The Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Settlement minister, myself, Energy and Power Development Minister Zhemu Soda, Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Minister Kazembe Kazembe, Bulawayo Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister Judith Ncube, the security sector and Bulawayo City Council are part of an inter-ministerial committee tasked with addressing the water challenges in Bulawayo,” he said.
“We recently came up with recommendations on what has to be done. Residents in high-density areas are the most affected.”
Minister Moyo said vandalism of infrastructure at Epping Forest and Rochester Aquifer is also contributing to the water crisis.
“The Epping Forest and Rochester Aquifer is pumping 3ML of water from 26ML because of those acts vandalism on infrastructure,” he said.
The inter-ministerial delegation recently toured the affected areas to assess the damage on the infrastructure.
The Epping Forest boreholes were rehabilitated in 2020, at a time when Bulawayo was experiencing its worst water crisis in the city’s modern history. The water crisis resulted in the death of 14 residents in Luveve suburb due to diarrhoea-related illnesses.
Vandalism of the electricity infrastructure has been described as a national security threat with urgent interventions being made.
Bulawayo Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister Judith Ncube said the joint ministerial committee is looking into the perennial water shortages.
“There is an inter-ministerial committee coming up with a lasting solution to water challenges in Bulawayo. We implore people not to destroy the infrastructure, which is critical in terms of the provision of clean water, hence the need to safeguard it,” she said.
Provincial Medical Director for Bulawayo Dr Maphios Siamuchembu said the water crisis is a health time bomb.
“We have been fighting to bring under control the outbreak of diarrhoea in the city. However, with the prevailing water crisis, it might make the situation worse if there is no lasting solution,” he said.
Dr Siamuchembu said as the short term measure, they are sinking boreholes in public hospitals to augment water supply.
“Hospitals and medical centres must not lack clean running water for operations. However, since the situation is out of our hands, we have set up boreholes at United Bulawayo hospitals so that the institution does not run out of water,” he said.
“In the short term, this is what can work at every medical centre around the city to avert a health disaster.”
Bulawayo deputy mayor Councillor Mlandu Ncube said the local authority is working towards installing solar pumps as a short-term solution.
“Council is actually working on installing solar to supply power to our plants,” said he said.
BCC said once the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) restores power to the affected plants and stations, raw water abstraction at Inyankuni, water treatment at Ncema and pumping at both Ncema and Fernhill will resume.
The local authority said it was forced to suspend water provision to the rest of the city to prevent its system from collapsing. – The Chronicle
