News / National
Gweru water supplies to normalise soon
04 Sep 2019 at 03:39hrs | Views
FOUR Indian-manufactured water pumps valued at over R6 million arrived in Gweru yesterday via South Africa in a development that is set to end the city's perennial water crisis.
The pumps will be installed at Amapongokwe Dam, after water levels at Gwenhoro Dam, the city's main water source, fell to 12%.
City engineer Robson Manatse, told Southern Eye that it will take about one week or two for installation of the pumps to be completed leading to normal supplies of water to residents.
"The pumps were manufactured in India and assembled in Germany. They are all new. The government paid the total costs of purchasing them and we are going to need one or two weeks to finish installation of the pumps at Amapongokwe Dam which is 75% full," he said.
"The pumps will supply raw water to our treatment plant at Gwenhoro Farm. We expect them to pump about 60 megalitres a day of raw water which will go a long way in easing the current crisis and strict rationing that we have been experiencing."
Mayor Josiah Makombe said residents must continue to use water sparingly when the supplies normalise in case this year there is drought.
"We are not sure whether this year there will be adequate rains or not, so we want to preserve the water we have and even if supplies to residents normalise, let them continue to use water sparingly. Of course we must celebrate the fact that my council has succeeded to avert a complete water disaster which could have happened if we had run out of water at Gwenhoro Dam with no plan to salvage the situation, but we must all still remain cautious," he said.
"The pumps at Gwenhoro Dam which were installed in 1958 had become old and obsolete to an extent they continued to break down but now that we have brand new pumps that will be installed, it will be a new era in the history of our city."
The pumps will be installed at Amapongokwe Dam, after water levels at Gwenhoro Dam, the city's main water source, fell to 12%.
City engineer Robson Manatse, told Southern Eye that it will take about one week or two for installation of the pumps to be completed leading to normal supplies of water to residents.
"The pumps were manufactured in India and assembled in Germany. They are all new. The government paid the total costs of purchasing them and we are going to need one or two weeks to finish installation of the pumps at Amapongokwe Dam which is 75% full," he said.
"The pumps will supply raw water to our treatment plant at Gwenhoro Farm. We expect them to pump about 60 megalitres a day of raw water which will go a long way in easing the current crisis and strict rationing that we have been experiencing."
Mayor Josiah Makombe said residents must continue to use water sparingly when the supplies normalise in case this year there is drought.
"We are not sure whether this year there will be adequate rains or not, so we want to preserve the water we have and even if supplies to residents normalise, let them continue to use water sparingly. Of course we must celebrate the fact that my council has succeeded to avert a complete water disaster which could have happened if we had run out of water at Gwenhoro Dam with no plan to salvage the situation, but we must all still remain cautious," he said.
"The pumps at Gwenhoro Dam which were installed in 1958 had become old and obsolete to an extent they continued to break down but now that we have brand new pumps that will be installed, it will be a new era in the history of our city."
Source - newsday
