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Government has availed $205 million to improve water supplies to Bulawayo city which has been forced to introduce tight water rationing.

The city is pumping 94 mega litres a day against a daily demand of 155 mega litres. Most areas are now receiving water twice a week while some suburbs on high lying areas have gone for months without receiving municipal water, forcing residents to resort to borehole water.

In some areas the council is using water bowsers to supply water to residents. Government which recently spent $18 million on the rehabilitation of the Nyamandlovu boreholes, two weeks ago released $205 million to fund projects meant to further improve the city’s water supplies.

The projects involve the drilling of additional 10 boreholes at Rochester in Nyamandlovu, equipping 20 boreholes at Epping Forest, increase water pumped through Mtshabezi pipeline from 17,76 ML/day to 25ML/day and also increasing water pumped from Insiza Dam.

Bulawayo recently recorded 13 deaths from typhoid which has been blamed on the city’s water rationing. Most of the deaths were recorded in Luveve suburb and surrounding areas.

Government revealed that human waste was found in water that was supplied to Luveve residents and council said this could have been as a result of sewage pipe burst in the suburb which could have leaked into water pipes.

There is therefore an urgent need for council to rehabilitate its water and sewer reticulation infrastructure to avoid a repeat of the leakage of raw sewage into the water supply system.

We want to commend Government for promptly responding to Bulawayo City Council’s appeal for assistance to improve its water supplies.

Residents, as part of measures to curb the spread of Covid-19, are supposed to maintain high levels of hygiene which involves regular washing of hands which is impossible as a result of the city’s tight water rationing.

Now that Government has released the required resources, council should move with speed to ensure the projects are implemented so that residents are guaranteed regular water supplies.

The situation whereby residents go for weeks or even days without water is not acceptable as it puts them at risk of contracting diseases. Residents should have running water all the time so that they are able to maintain high levels of hygiene to curb the spread of the pandemic and prevent outbreaks of other water-borne diseases like typhoid.