Byo implements crippling water restrictions

TENDAI BHEBE IN BULAWAYO 

The Bulawayo City Council (BCC)  has implemented crippling water restrictions  in the suburbs as a response to major repairs currently underway at its Ncema Water Treatment Works, Business Times can report.

It comes as one of the city’s major dams, Umzingwane Dam, will soon be decommissioned.

“The City of Bulawayo would like to advise members of the public that while repairs are being conducted at Ncema Water Treatment Works, areas supplied by the Tuli Hill, 6J, and Rifle Range reservoirs will be under a 48-hour water shedding programme,” the Town Clerk Christopher Dube said.

Affected areas include Lochview, Sunninghill, Marlands, Glencoe, Riverside, Manningdale, Willsgrove, Buenasvista, Douglasdale, Fortunes gate, Selbourne Park, Matsheumhlophe, Barbourfieldsand  Mzilikazi.

Other suburbs that will also be affected are Nguboyenja, Makokoba, Harrisvale, Trenance, Richmond, Sauerstown, Hillside, South riding, Four winds, Morningside, Barham Green, Greenhill, Mqabuko heights, Esigodini, Lookout Masuku Barracks, Parklands, Khumalo, Queenspark, Suburbs, Mahatshula, Woodville, Kingsdale and Killarney. 

The city has been grappling with water shortages over the years. The government believes the Gwayi-Shangani dam will be the answer to the water crisis facing Zimbabwe’s biggest city. Eleven companies have been contracted to lay the 245km pipeline to bring water from the dam to Bulawayo.

Meanwhile, urban farmers in Bulawayo are worried  their crops are already showing serious moisture stress  due to erratic rainfall patterns.

They fear  the crops will soon wilt down if the city does not receive the rains in the next coming few days.

Bulawayo and other parts of Matebeleland have gone for months without rain. 

Martha Maphosa, the Bulawayo Urban Farmers Association vice secretary said some farmers have lost hope. 

“(The farmers) have lost hope that they will have anything coming out of their fields, “ Maphosa said. 

She said urban farmers need more boreholes for watering in their fields. 

“We are appealing to the government to provide boreholes for peri-urban residents so that people can have gardens.

“It could be a good idea to help each urban farmer have a source where they can get water  to continue with their farming activities,” she said.

The meteorological services department has commenced cloud seeding in order to encourage rainfall as most parts of the country have gone for months without rains.