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Angela Sibanda, Chronicle Reporter
THE Bulawayo City Council (BCC) yesterday announced an indefinite citywide water shutdown following a power outage at its water treatment plants.

Only the city centre and industrial areas will be exempted from the water cuts.

The local authority said normal water supplies will be restored after the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) rectifies the problem.

In a statement yesterday, Town Clerk Mr Christopher Dube said council was on Wednesday hit by electrical faults at the local authority’s water treatment plants.

“The City of Bulawayo would like to advise members of the public that there will be an emergency shutdown of water supplies to all residential areas in the city except for industry and the central business district on Thursday 4 November 2021. The interruption is due to power outages experienced from yesterday (Wednesday November 2021) up to today at Ncema Treatment Works and Fernhill Booster Station that resulted in loss of treatment and pumping,” said Mr Dube.

“This has resulted in low reservoir levels across the city. Further to that, there was loss of pumping due to power outages at the Rochester pump station in Nyamandlovu resulting in lack of pumping from the Aquifer. The shutdown will be maintained until restoration of power supply and pumping to enable treatment and to allow for the supply reservoirs to gain to satisfaction levels.”

He said the water challenge will also disrupt the water shedding programme for areas supplied by the Tuli, Rifle Range and Hillside Reservoirs.

Mr Dube said the power utility is working around the clock to bring the situation to normalcy.

“The ZETDC is already on the ground investigating the cause of the outages and low voltage and are working towards the restoration of supplies. Residents are further advised to conserve water accordingly and ensure that taps remain turned off in-case of earlier re-supply,” said Mr Dube.