By Angelah Nothando Mlotshwa
“The public is hereby informed of water supply interruptions to all residential areas in the city .This is as a result of a power outage at Ncema Waterworks and Fernhill pump station which occurred on the 29th of December 2022 at 12.30hrs to23.05 hrs and a major pipe burst on the city Raw water lines at Woodlands near Esigodini area.”
The statement above greeted most Bulawayo residents on the first day of the new year .Instead of concentrating on feasting some were forced to spend the day in long queques at boreholes.
“What can we say, we dont even have water to wash clothes. We are opening tommorow, you know people who work in the industries. Our clothes need to be washed everyday”, said Magwegwe resident Cypren Munemo.
He added that almost a week has passed without water being available to households in his neighborhood.
” lawe you know that we have gone for over a week without water, now approaching another week”, added Munemo.
“The issue of water in Bulawayo is one changr of serious concern. Surprisingly we are often told efforts and means are being tried, but there is no sign for that on the ground! Talk of Nyamandlovu Acquifer/Epping Forest etc etc but still residents have no water”, said Winos Dube Chairman (Bulawayo United Residents Association) BURA.
“Zesa outages sometimes are cited as a cause, surely we will end up not knowing whats going to be everlasting solution to this. It is therefore our strong appeal for government’s fulll intervention by pushing for a speedy completion of the much awaited Zambezi water project which has gone over a century from the time it was first mooted (1912). The water situation is so dire that life in the city of Kings is no longer bearable, let alone this does not augur well with would be investors! Its a business risk investing in a place without reliable water supply! Its bad”, added Dube.
The city council has published a water rationing timetable which they have failed to abide by most of the time.
The problem of water scarcity experienced in most suburbs of Bulawayo is largely attributable to human inefficiency and Bulawayo City Council poor planning.
“The water shedding and water restoration timetables issued by the local authority are hardly followed”, said Thembelani Dube Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA) Secretary for Administration.
“Secondly, the excuses of failure to pump water due to power outages have long lost steam. The local authority must have invested in renewable solar energy to power it’s pumping plants.” He added.
“The residents of Bulawayo are dismayed by the persistent unprecedented excuses which have become a daily dose”, added Dube.
Again efforts by ZIM GBC NEWS to get a comment from the City Council Public Relations Office were fruitless as we never got a reply. We sent our questions to their email adress nmpofu@citybyo.co.zw to no avail.