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Mrs Nesisa Mpofu

Nqobile Tshili, Chronicle Correspondent
BULAWAYO’s supply dams are now 49 percent full following heavy rains recorded on Monday.

The increase in water levels comes as a relief for most Bulawayo residents who endured 72 hours of water shedding per week towards the end of last year.

On Monday morning, the dam levels were at 42 percent full but the figure rose to 49 percent yesterday.

Bulawayo City Council senior public relations officer Mrs Nesisa Mpofu said the municipality was excited about the new water levels in the city’s dams.

“The City of Bulawayo is very excited about the inflows that have been recorded into our dams. As we speak our dams are 49 percent full as of today (yesterday). But what is interesting is that when we went to sleep yesterday (Monday) we were at 42 percent. That means between yesterday and today we had inflows amounting to seven percent,” said Mrs Mpofu.

She said residents should also know that the city was now drawing water from Umzingwane Dam which had previously been decommissioned due to low water levels.

Another dam, Upper Ncema, remains decommissioned.

“Umzingwane is now sitting at 30 percent and this is encouraging considering that we were no longer getting water from it,” Mrs Mpofu said.

She urged residents not to be carried away by the new statistics, saying although the city has recorded positive inflows, water should be used sparingly.

Mrs Mpofu said residents should develop a culture of water harvesting as this promotes conservation.

“As a city we’re still on water rationing and our allocations must be monitored at household level. We encourage our residents’ to develop a culture of conserving water and re-using water,” she said.

Last week, the Zimbabwe National Water Authority said most of the dams in Matabeleland region have recorded positive inflows with most community dams being full to capacity.

@nqotshili