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Government has, during the past few years, spent a lot of money on projects meant to boost Bulawayo City’s water supplies and only recently, it availed US$14 million to Bulawayo City Council to address the city’s water crisis.

In a bid to augment supplies from the city’s dams, Government has drilled 60 boreholes at Rochester and Epping Forest in Nyamandlovu. Government has since released US$2,8 million of the US$14 million it availed to BBC so that council can buy and install new water pumps at Umzingwane and Inyakuni pump stations.

Plans are also underway to pump water from Mtshabezi Dam, which is 53 percent full to the decommissioned Umzingwane Dam and Government has already invited tenders for the purchase and laying of a 150-meter bypass pipeline. Council has said the bulk of the money recently availed by Government will be used to fund the rehabilitation and upgrading of Insiza and Mtshabezi pipelines.

The Mayor, Clr David Coltart has said although Insiza and Mtshabezi dams are 43 and 53 percent full respectively, council cannot pump sufficient quantities unless it completes the rehabilitation and upgrading of the pipelines. Efforts by both the Government and BCC to boost the city’s water supplies will however come to naught as long as the council continues to lose 50 percent of the water it pumps to leakages and burst pipes.

The city’s water reticulation system has very old pipes, which urgently need replacement in order to reduce leakages and burst pipes. The City’s director of Engineering and Sanitation, Engineer Sikhumbuzo Ncube, said the city needs more than US$465 million to replace old pipes and upgrade its water reticulation system.

He said so far, US$25 million has been spent on this project. There is therefore an urgent need to upgrade the water reticulation system so that very little water is lost to leakages and burst pipes.

The city cannot afford to lose as much as 50 percent of the water pumped to leakages and burst pipes as is the case now. Following Government’s intervention to boost the city’s water supplies, Bulawayo residents were supposed to be enjoying improved water supplies, but this is not the case due to leakages and burst pipes.

Government and the private sector should therefore assist the local authority to address this problem as soon as possible.

Efforts to boost the city’s water supplies are also being frustrated by rampant theft and vandalism of boreholes and other infrastructure at Rochester and Epping Forest.

We said on Monday that there is a need to seriously consider deploying drones to enhance monitoring and protection of critical public infrastructure in this area. There is a need to improve surveillance and this is only possible through the use of drones.