Bulawayo Mayor, Cllr Solomon Mguni has urged the local authority to come up with ways of dealing with water leakages and pipe bursts, a development that is leading to wastage of treated water.
This came out in the latest council minutes where city fathers highlighted that reported cases of bursts and leakages were on the rise and council staff were taking long to attend to them.
Mayor Mguni said there was a need to come up with strategies that would be implemented in order to bring an end to the challenge.
“Cases of leaks are now a cause for concern. Bursts go for up to three days without being attended to. A way has to be sought in order to end this challenge,” he said.
Ward 17 Councillor Sikhululekile Moyo said numerous complaints had been received from residents pertaining bursts and leaks which were left unattended for a long time resulting in the loss of treated water.
In response, Director of Engineering Services, Engineer Simela Dube advised that the pressure management process was being implemented and more plumbers were being engaged to beef up existing staff.
He said the plan was to install new pipes and pressure valves which would help minimise bursts and leaks.
“Following leak and bursts assessments in the Tuli reservoir zone procurement was currently in progress to secure the materials necessary to carry out the proposed interventions Proposed Immediate Interventions In light of the above, the following interventions had been drawn up that there be replacement of the 18 DMA Zone meters of which 6 were part of the Tuli Reservoir zone,” the minutes read. ·
“There will be replacement of domestic and bulk commercial non-functional meters and repair of service pipe leaks in the Tuli zone. Council will be deploying contract plumbers to deal with leaks and non-functional domestic water meters as part of the non-revenue water reduction exercise.”
Town Clerk Christopher Dube advised that attending to leaks and bursts had always been a priority and a lot of effort had been done to manage both sewer and water bursts.
He said having material readily available in stock was a challenge because of financial constraints.
