News / Local
96 hour weekly water-shedding to persist
07 Jan 2013 at 06:36hrs | Views
THE 96-hour weekly water-shedding regime currently in force in Bulawayo suburbs is set to continue as the local authority's supply dams have reportedly received a paltry 0,35% rain-fed inflows since last week's heavy downfalls.
Bulawayo City Council acting director of engineering services Job Jika Ndebele told NewsDay over the weekend that the heavy downpours that the city had received since last week had made insignificant contributions to the supply dams which are currently below 40% of capacity.
"There was just a slight improvement in the rain water inflows into some supply dams as from January 1," Ndebele said.
"Before January 1, our supply dams were 37,03% full in total. Today (Friday) they are 37,38% full. The slight inflows were recorded at Insiza Dam which had 346 982 cubic metres of water after the January 1 rain water inflows. As long as the city supply dams did not receive significant rain water inflows, the water shedding will remain in force until the situation normalises."
Ndebele said Umzingwane Dam, as of January 2, had 580 625 cubic metres while Upper Ncema had 409 127 cubic metres of water.
On Friday night, Bulawayo experienced a heavy downpour, but residents in most parts of the city had no running water as the rationing programme remained in force.
The local authority introduced a stringent water usage regime in July last year after two supply dams - Umzingwane and Upper Ncema - ran dry and were subsequently decommissioned.
The city is also likely to decommission two more dams in March this year if the situation remains unchanged.
Bulawayo City Council acting director of engineering services Job Jika Ndebele told NewsDay over the weekend that the heavy downpours that the city had received since last week had made insignificant contributions to the supply dams which are currently below 40% of capacity.
"There was just a slight improvement in the rain water inflows into some supply dams as from January 1," Ndebele said.
"Before January 1, our supply dams were 37,03% full in total. Today (Friday) they are 37,38% full. The slight inflows were recorded at Insiza Dam which had 346 982 cubic metres of water after the January 1 rain water inflows. As long as the city supply dams did not receive significant rain water inflows, the water shedding will remain in force until the situation normalises."
Ndebele said Umzingwane Dam, as of January 2, had 580 625 cubic metres while Upper Ncema had 409 127 cubic metres of water.
On Friday night, Bulawayo experienced a heavy downpour, but residents in most parts of the city had no running water as the rationing programme remained in force.
The local authority introduced a stringent water usage regime in July last year after two supply dams - Umzingwane and Upper Ncema - ran dry and were subsequently decommissioned.
The city is also likely to decommission two more dams in March this year if the situation remains unchanged.
Source - newsday
