Ward 17 Councillor, Sikhululekile Moyo has urged residents to heed the call by the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) to participate in the Big Flush to ease rampant sewer blockages in the city.
She made the plea at a resident’s meeting held on Sunday in Pumula North the ward saying the local authority is trying to escape cholera outbreaks.
The ‘Big Flush` was first mooted in 2012 after the local authority asked residents to flush their toilets simultaneously at 7.30 pm after the 72-hour water cuts to prevent clogging, which damages the city’s sewer infrastructure.
The directive had then attracted international attention
with major news outlets running the story.
The city also introduced water shedding in 2016 after some of the supply dams
were decommissioned due to reduced water levels.
The big flush comes as the local authority is implementing a weekly 72hour water-shedding exercise due to depleting water levels.
The local authority says residents should simultaneously flush their toilets between 0600 hrs and 0630 hrs and between 2000hrs and 2030hrs.
“As ward 17, I hope we will co-operate in this call of the big flush system so that we can prevent any possible disease from emanating.
“We urge all residents to flush at the same time around 2030 hours, and even in the morning around 6.30 am this is our appeal as BCC so that we help push the pressure,” said Cllr Moyo.
“What happens when there is water-shedding is that there will be no pressure when we use our bucket water, so with the big flush program we are trying to force pressure as all residents will be flushing at the same time so that dirt does not clog on pipelines,” she said.
Councillor Moyo said the water rationing program has also brought another problem of sewer blockages.
“Due to the water-shedding program, we now have another program as our sewers are continuously bursting this is why we have introduced the big flush program with the hope that as residents we will take the call and help the local authority,” she said.
“Even if there is no water, you can use the little that you have stored in buckets so that it helps those who have water so that we can keep our City clean and avoid diseases such as Cholera,” said Cllr Moyo.
