Auxilia Katongomara Chronicle Reporter

THE Bulawayo City Council’s water supply dams are 57.02 percent full, with the local authority confident that at the current consumption rate, supplies are guaranteed to last until October 2017.

This will come as good news to residents, who in the past few years have had to endure water cuts and rationing.

According to statistics released by the local authority yesterday, the city’s supply dams hold a combined average of 76.15 percent capacity.

This is enough to last up to October 2017.

Mtshabezi dam leads the pack and is 91.68 percent full followed by Insiza Mayfair at 77.09 percent, Lower Ncema 66.5 percent, Upper Ncema 23 percent, Umzingwane 20.09 percent and Inyankuni at 27.28 percent.

Estimates by the local authority show that the water in the dams can last for 28 months.

“The expected theoretical depletion period translates to 27.6 months. Abstraction from Mtshabezi and Insiza dams was limited by pipeline capacities, which at present is 17 and 45 Ml per day respectively,” reads the report.

The statistics show that the water in Mtshabezi is projected to last until July 2021, while that in Lower Ncema and Upper Ncema could last until March next year.

Inyankuni’s water is projected to last until March 2017 while Umzingwane could be decommissioned by November this year.

Water rationing limits in low-density areas are still pegged at 350 litres per day with high density areas at 300lt per day, cottages (200lt per day) and residential flats with individual meters (300lt).

In March this year, the director of Engineering Services Engineer Simela Dube said the local authority was mulling plans to re-introduce water shedding as three dams were projected to be depleted by January next year.

“We fear that in 2016 we might have to introduce water shedding if we don’t receive rains,” said Eng Dube.

He said the city was losing a lot of water due to burst pipes.

Water shedding is a system of conserving tap water by cutting supplies for a given period.

At its height in 2012, residents went without water for up to 72 hours every week.

Residents relied mainly on borehole water but it has since been certified unclean for drinking.

The city has 352 boreholes.

Some city fathers have questioned council’s water estimation as in December last year it was projected to have water supplies that could last for three years.

Speaking in council chambers, Councillor Silas Chigora expressed doubts when he questioned the reliability of estimates as it had been projected last month that the dams’ water could last 30 months.

In response, Mayor Clr Martin Moyo said consumption was difficult to measure and it was affected by a number of factors such as evaporation and seasonal consumption patterns with people using more water in summer compared to winter, among other factors.

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