Water woes in urban areas continue despite record rainfall season

BY TAKAWIRA DURURU
Despite receiving 888.5mm of rainfall during the 2025/26 rainy season, one of the wettest seasons in recent history, major urban centres such as Bulawayo and Harare continue to experience water shortages.
Data from dam authorities, councils and water experts suggests that ageing infrastructure, pollution, illegal water abstraction and delayed water projects are preventing residents from benefiting fully from the abundant rains.
For the past five months, heavy rains pounded the country’s second largest city and much of the Matabeleland provinces, as Zimbabwe recorded the second highest annual rainfall amount since the 2026-2017 rain season.
However there is no joy for the city, as the council’s water shedding programme will continue almost as normal as if nothing happened, as the city’s supply dam levels do not reflect the heavy rains that fell.
Water shortages disproportionately affect women because they remain primarily responsible for household water collection and care work.
Women in Entumbane high density surbub said they have been surviving on water harvesting for domestic requirements like laundry and toilet usage, but expressed disappointment that despite the heavy rains, water rationing will still continue.
“The fact that we are not getting water on a daily basis means we are facing a risk of disease outbreaks, and whenever there are such outbreaks, it is us women who will take care of the sick”, a woman identified only as maDlamini from C square in Entumbane said.
Gender activist Buhlebemvelo Tshabangu-Moyo feels the current situation in Bulawayo is a stark reminder of the Covid-19 situation where the world woke up to pictures of women queuing long hours for water that was supplied through council bowsers.
“The water crisis will always remain a gender concern as women bear the brunt of the shortages.
“Women are the ones who are affected by water shortages as they are household managers and children and men look up to them for all water requirements in the home.
“At times their lives are put at risk as they continue to fetch water from morning right into the night.
“In a country where unemployment levels are at 90%, women face a double edged sword as they have to provide water at home, while at the same time they are expected to be vending to earn subsistence income for their families,” said Tshabangu-Moyo.
Recently the City of Bulawayo Town Clerk Christopher Dube, announced an improved water shedding programme, that has been reduced from 96 hours to 72 hours.
The new water shedding programme means residents will now receive water supplies for four days a week, up from three days a week.

Graphic courtesy of Bulawayo City Council
As of 27 April 2026, out of six supply dams for the city of Bulawayo, only Mtshabezi in Gwanda had reached 100% capacity.
Another dam that received significant inflows is Insiza, which had reached 89.5% of its capacity by the end of April.
Although the figures rose notably as a result of heavy downpours experienced in the Matabeleland provinces, the amount of water in the dams is not enough to meet the daily requirements of Bulawayo’s industries and citizens.
Lower Ncema which last spilled in 2017, is now at 34.3% capacity, while Upper Ncema is 55.7% full.
Mzingwane reached 49.6% of its capacity, while Inyankuni is at its lowest at 31.3%.

Despite above-average rainfall, only two of Bulawayo’s six supply dams were above 80 percent capacity by the end of April, while three remained below 50 percent.
The situation means Bulawayo will continue facing water challenges for the rest of the year, despite the heavy downpours received.
Chairperson of the Bulawayo Residents Association Winos Dube said although the improvement in the number of days in which the council will allocate water was welcome, it is still not enough to satisfy the residents who have endured decades of water shedding in the city.
“We want to send a strong message to the council and government, that increasing the number of days in which water is available is not enough as we want to receive supplies 24/7.
“The rains have been plenty this season, but more effort should be made to implement solutions that will eradicate this problem once and for all”, he said.
Why Water Shortages Persist
Illegal water harvesting by illegal miners reduced the amount of flow into the major dams, leaving the region without enough to meet national needs like human consumption, agriculture and for game parks. The affected rivers include Umzingwane and Insiza rivers.
Dube also lamented the silence of stakeholders on the once proposed Glassblock dam project, which was supposed to hold 129 million cubic metres of water.
“The Glassblock project along Mzingwane river seems to have been shelved, and there is no explanation given for that.
“All these projects including the Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project should be revived and completed because the situation has not reached normal levels,” Dube said.
He also complained about the water billing system in Bulawayo, which is not up to scratch, yet citizens are facing litigation for unpaid bills.
The Glassblock dam project with an estimated cost of US$100 million has stalled because of a stalemate between Bulawayo City Council and the consortium selected to do the construction work, over the Water Agreement Purchase model.
The consortium is demanding payment upfront, while the council remains adamant that it cannot pay for a product that has not yet been delivered.
Despite the record rainfall this season, other urban areas like Harare are also expected to continue facing water shortages because of infrastructural neglect and poor administration.
Harare receives water mainly from Lake Chivero and Lake Manyame, and some supplies are from Seke. Chivero is 82.5% full, Manyame is 80.9% full while Seke is 100% full.
Years of maladministration in the local government have seen some suburbs like Mabvuku going for years without tap water.
Although boreholes have been sunk throughout Mabvuku and Tafara townships to alleviate water shortages, residents still feel they are losing productive time while queuing for water at the boreholes.
“As women we don’t have much time to do other activities like income generating projects as we spend most of the day fetching water at these boreholes. We really wish we could get tap water as well,” lamented Anna Munemo who has lived in Mabvuku for all her life.

Zimbabwe received normal to above normal rains this season, and according to the Zimbabwe National Water Authority ZINWA, the country’s dams were at 93.4% by the end of April, compared to the 89.1% during the same period in 2025.

Image courtesy of ZINWA

The government has recently announced plans to rehabilitate rivers damaged by riverbed and small-scale mining considering the impact of these activities on dam levels and the environment in general.
However, Wellington Madumira who is the Coordinator of the Climate Action Network Zimbabwe, CANZIM, believes the government must go beyond the usual rhetoric.
“For the government’s river rehabilitation initiative to succeed, it has to strengthen enforcement and monitoring of environmental regulations and ensure equal application of laws regardless of status or influence”, Madumira said.
Bulawayo is facing a water crisis because the long-term solution, that is the Gwayi Shangani dam, is still under construction. The dam is estimated to cost US$600 million and this year alone, the government allocated US$21 million for civil works. However, the date of completion is always changing since the third Republic came into power in 2018, even though the government has set 2026 as the deadline.
In urban areas, councils must improve water supply management, to prevent water shortages, and the usual outbreaks of waterborne diseases such as cholera and typhoid.
“The council must come up with another way of rationing water that ensures water is available at least once a day even if it is only for a short period, as this will improve water management at household level, and leave women with more time to attend to other important chores”, proposed Tshabangu-Moyo.
In Harare Madumira recommended the protection of wetlands which are natural purification systems, and construction of alternative water sources.
“Authorities must stop construction on wetlands and restore those that have been damaged, as this will help in reducing sediment and pollution entering the dam system.”
Zimbabwe’s dams were 93.4 percent full by the end of April, yet major urban centres continue to ration water because storage levels, treatment capacity and distribution infrastructure have failed to keep pace with demand.
For residents of Bulawayo and Harare, abundant rainfall has not translated into reliable water supplies. Until infrastructure deficits, environmental degradation and governance challenges are addressed, urban households will continue to face shortages even in the wettest of years.