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Vusumuzi Dube, Senior Reporter

BULAWAYO City Council (BCC) has decommissioned one of its main supply dams, Upper Ncema, as the city’s water situation continues to deteriorate.

However, the 48-hour water shedding schedule will remain unchanged as the local authority continues to assess the situation.

In a statement, the local authority’s public relations officer, Miss Bongiwe Ngwenya, revealed that the dam was decommissioned on Saturday with the latest statistics revealing that it was just above three percent full.

“The City of Bulawayo would like to advise members of the public that Upper Ncema Dam has been decommissioned with effect from Saturday 8 June 2019. The City remains with five out of six dams (Lower Ncema, Umzingwane, Insiza, Mtshabezi, and Inyankuni) as available sources of surface water supply. 

“Bulawayo City Council further advises consumers that the current 48-hour water shedding programme remains unchanged and residents are urged to conserve and use water sparingly,” said Miss Ngwenya.

According to the latest statistics, the city’s dams stand at 50,70 percent full, a decline from 52,46 percent which was recorded last month.

The decommissioned dam, Upper Ncema, was 5,16 percent full then.

It was decommissioned at 3,82 percent.

A dam is usually decommissioned after it reaches 10 percent of its capacity to allow it to sustain its underwater life.

Mtshabezi Dam, which has a capacity of 51 996 000 cubic metres, has dropped from 78,93 percent full to 75 percent.

Inyankuni, which has a carrying capacity of 80 781 000 cubic metres, is 61,4 percent full – a drop from 62,77 percent last month. 

Insiza Mayfair, with a carrying capacity of 173 491 000 cubic metres, is 56,14 percent full – a drop from 57,48 percent.

Lower Ncema, which has a carrying capacity of 18 237 700 cubic metres, is 71,07 percent full, a drop from 76,56 percent two weeks ago.

 Umzingwane with a carrying capacity of 44 663 500 cubic metres has actually increased marginally to 21,37 percent from 21,29 percent. 

The city faces perennial water shortages but this year the situation is likely to be further exacerbated by the low rainfall experienced in the region which resulted in very low inflows into the city’s supply dams.

The city fathers have in the past identified the Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project as the long term solution to the city’s problems. 

Other projects identified include the Epping Forest boreholes that will increase the water being pumped from the Nyamandlovu Aquifer and the duplication of the Insiza pipeline to complement the existing pipeline and increase water being pumped from Insiza Mayfair. 

Bulawayo is also said to be operating with a deficit of four dams as an additional supply dam is supposed to be constructed after every 10 years.