The Bulawayo City Council (BCC) Town Clerk Christopher Dube on July 28 announced the suspension of the water-shedding program.
The local authority had imposed a citywide 48-hour water shedding schedule.
“The City of Bulawayo would like to advise consumers that it will be temporarily suspending the water-shedding programme that was introduced in February 2019 with immediate effect. The suspension will be reviewed on Friday the 9th of August 2019,” said Dube.
It was circulated on the council’s social media platforms as well as shared with residents on WhatsApp platform.
The suspension, Dube said, comes after considerable progress of major rehabilitation works at Criterion Water Works, and the normalization of the water supply distribution system.
“Currently the Raw Water holding reservoir at Criterion – which is the City’s buffer has continued to gain in volume with levels currently at 3.94m. We shall continue to monitor the reservoir level, which should ideally be at 5.5m. Its recovery and stability can only be reassured through the support of consumers who are expected to continue conserving water and adhering to the approved daily water rationing allocations,” he said.
The Town Clerk said re-introduction of the shedding may be necessitated by excessive use of potable water, power shedding and maintenance works disruptions.
Did all areas in the city receive water supplies following the lifting of the water-shedding program?
CITE fact-checked the local authority`s announcement by conducting interviews with Councillors and residents in various wards across the city.
Our investigations revealed that Matshobana, Cowdray Park, Nkulumane 5, Nkulumane 10, Sizinda and Mzilikazi had no water supplies on Monday and Tuesday in the morning.
Some areas received normal water supplies around 10 am on Tuesday.
