An electricity outage at Ncema Waterworks and Fernhill Pump station on Wednesday has crippled water supplies to most parts of Bulawayo.
The power outage was experienced between 2 pm on Wednesday until 7 am on Thursday.
Only the Central Business District and Industrial areas have been spared from the water cuts.
“This led to the depletion of reservoirs as a result of reduced plumping for both raw and clear water. To protect the supply and distribution reservoirs from collapsing, the City of Bulawayo will be cutting off water supply to the mentioned areas until Reservoir levels have been satisfactorily restored,” said Bulawayo Town Clerk Christopher Dube in a statement, Thursday.
The city is grappling with water shortages due to low water levels at its supply dams.
Recently, the local authority revealed that its supply dams, all located in Matabeleland South, are 57 percent at a time when most dams around the country are full due to the heavy rainfall received in the country so far.
As of February 20, 2023, the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) revealed that Insiza Mayfair is 73.15 percent full, Inyankuni is 45.61 percent full, Lower Ncema is 30.96 percent, Umzingwane is 17.27 percent, Upper Ncema is 41.68 percent, and Mtshabezi is 74.75 percent full, with a total operational capacity of 56.67 percent.
