Bulawayo councillors have called on the government to address the city’s water crisis with the urgency it deserves, raising concerns that the situation may worsen and plunge residents into deeper suffering.
The councillors were deliberating on the Future Water Report during the full council meeting held on Wednesday at the council chambers.
The city council decommissioned Umzingwane Dam in December because of low water levels, and owing to the poor rainfall season, Lower Ncema Dam may be the next to be decommissioned.
Residents are currently surviving on a 120-hour water-shedding schedule where they only receive water two days a week. But due to the different altitudes, some areas go for longer hours without receiving running water from their taps.
The councillors agreed that the government must provide immediate solutions to the dire crisis rocking the city.
Ward 25 Councillor Aleck Ndlovu highlighted that one of the solutions that could help the city is rehabilitating the Nyamandlovu Aquifer so that it can supply more water to the city.
“It is unfortunate that we did not get any inflows into our dams. The solution we may have is Nyamandlovu, but the challenge there is vandalism. The city council needs to work with the government to beef up security there. What has been done to date to beef up security and capacitate the boreholes?” Councilor Ndlovu said.
Ward 9 Councillor, Donaldson Mabuto, highlighted that a similar situation occurred in 1992..
“We were faced with the same situation in 1992 where three of the city dams dried up, remaining with water to supply the city for only 43 days. Looking at where we are, Lower Ncema may be decommissioned soon and we will be in intensive care. What in-roads have been made so far to engage the government. We have only heard of promises. Is there any funding that has been disbursed to assist?” Cllr Mabuto said.
Ward 22 Cllr, Mmeli Moyo, said the money that was availed by the government in January must be used to rehabilitate boreholes in the city as these are the immediate solutions to the water crisis.
“As the council we are failing to adhere to the schedule that we set and this is affecting our residents. We are already hard hit by drought as it is. The committee needs to look into immediate remedies to ensure that the residents have water. The government availed some money at the beginning of the year meant to drill boreholes. Most of the solutions we have are not quite immediate but if we can get these boreholes that were promised by the government it can help us to give the people water,” he said.
Acting mayor, Edwin Ndlovu, suggested that the city council takes advantage of the declaration of the drought as a national disaster to seek assistance from various stakeholders.
“We acknowledge that we do not have water, despite the scheduled recovery hours, if the water is not there, the pressure will be low and some areas will not receive any water at all,” he said.
“The declaration for the city as a water crisis area can be encompassed in the declaration that was made by President Mnangagwa in the past few days. Although he did not single out Bulawayo, he encompassed the whole country. We can take that as a leeway and seek assistance from various avenues.”
