Bulawayo will remain on a 72-hour water shedding programme despite improved water levels in its supply dams, with the city council saying ageing and damaged pumping infrastructure is limiting its ability to deliver water to residents.
The city’s dams are between 65% and 66% full, with only Insiza Dam and Mtshabezi Dam holding more than 80% of their capacity, according to Bulawayo City Council Director of Water and Sanitation, Engineer Sikhumbuzo Ncube.
Speaking during a media briefing on Wednesday, Ncube said Bulawayo had more water available than it had in recent years, although only two of its dams were above 80% capacity.
“Our dams currently hold between 65 and 66 percent. We have only two dams that are above 80 percent, which are Insiza Dam at 85 percent and Mtshabezi Dam at around 99 percent. The rest of the dams are under 50 percent,” he said.
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Ncube said Umzingwane Dam would be the only reservoir decommissioned this year.
“This year there will be no decommissioning of dams except for Umzingwane Dam. In that regard, we have supplied more water compared to the last five years,” he said.
Despite the improved water levels, Ncube said problems with the city’s pumping infrastructure continued to constrain water supplies.
He said the council had recently commissioned four pumps at Umzingwane Dam and was rehabilitating infrastructure at Inyankuni Dam. Work is expected to begin in September.
The city is also repairing pumps at Ncema Dam, which supplies about 70% of Bulawayo’s water.
“Despite the fact that we have some reasonable amount of water in our dams, we still have challenges on the value chain of delivering water,” Ncube said.
“We have water pumps which have also been damaged.”
He said the pumping problems meant the city could not yet reduce its water shedding schedule.
“Under that current setup we are on 72-hour water shedding. We are working on reinstalling the new water pumps at Ncema,” he said.
Ncube said Bulawayo draws its raw water from both groundwater and surface water sources.
The Nyamandlovu Aquifer supplies between eight and 10 megalitres of water a day through the Nyamandlovu Pump Station. The water is conveyed to Magwegwe Reservoir via the Cowdray Park Booster Station before being blended with treated water from Criterion Water Works to supply the city’s western suburbs.
Most of Bulawayo’s water, however, comes from a network of dams comprising Inyankuni, Lower Ncema, Upper Ncema, Umzingwane, Mtshabezi and Insiza.
Mtshabezi Dam is owned by the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa), while Insiza Dam is jointly owned by the council and Zinwa under an 80:20 arrangement.
Ncube said a rehabilitation project would restore full operation of the city’s two raw water pumping lines.
The Sulzer line has a pumping capacity of 51 megalitres a day, while the Flowserve line can pump 54 megalitres, giving a combined capacity of 105 megalitres a day. Currently, only the Sulzer line is operational.
He said restoring both lines would increase the amount of raw water reaching Criterion Water Works for treatment, improve supplies to service reservoirs and make water distribution across the city more reliable.
“The enhanced system performance will enable the City to further reduce the water shedding programme, significantly improving the frequency and reliability of water supplies to residents while ensuring a more equitable distribution of the available water resource,” he said.
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