The Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has introduced a 36- hour weekly water shedding regime in all suburbs due to low levels at Umzingwane Dam and the city’s water supply reservoirs.
The water shedding programme came into effect yesterday.
The local authority however said industries, mines and the Central Business District will be exempt from water shedding.
Bulawayo Town Clerk, Mr Christopher Dube said in a statement on Tuesday that water shedding would start yesterday.
“Members of the public are advised that the City of Bulawayo will be introducing a 36- hour water shedding schedule from Wednesday 30 January 2019 in all residential areas of the city.
“This has been necessitated by low levels at the city’s water supply reservoirs and Umzingwane Dam,” said Mr Dube.
He said in a bid to manage water supplies, the shedding will initially run for 36 hours a week citywide and will be reviewed weekly until the situation normalises.
Mr Dube urged residents to conserve and use water sparingly.
Water-shedding is the deliberate cutting of water supplies to certain areas for a period of time.
It differs from water rationing whereby a fixed limit for water usage is set and anyone who uses water above the limit is penalised.
In a separate statement yesterday, BCC Senior Public Relations Officer Mrs Nesisa Mpofu said the city’s dam capacity as of yesterday stood at 60,44 percent.
“However, the uMzingwane Dam and Upper Ncema Dam levels are now very low and are at a critical stage. If the city does not receive any inflows during the 2019 rainy season, the city is likely to lose these two dams in the near future,” she said.
The country is expected to experience normal to below normal rainfall this rainy season.
Mrs Mpofu said the supply reservoirs’ low levels were as a result of erratic pumping from Nyamandlovu Aquifer, Inyankuni and uMzingwane booster stations.
She said even though power had been restored at the uMzingwane and Inyankuni booster stations, they are operating with only one booster pump at each station making it very difficult to supply adequate raw water to the city.
Mrs Mpofu said council has been engaging both ZINWA and ZETDC who are working to restore power supply at Nyamandlovu Aquifer and it is anticipated that once this is finalised it will increase the boreholes pumping output to the city.
“Currently all the twenty-four upgraded boreholes at the Aquifer are down due to power supply disruptions,” she said.
Mrs Mpofu said on average 108 mega litres per day are pumped to the city when there are no challenges and the present consumption rate is 140ML/day which is more than what is pumped per day.
She said there was a massive power surge which burnt control panels for the uMzingwane pumps.
“One pump has been fixed although it is facing challenges to pump and convey both raw and clear water supply to the city. It should be noted that when we face electricity challenges at both Fernhill and Ncema, the city faces challenges in conveyancing water.”