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Nqobile Tshili, Chronicle Reporter
THE Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has installed new pumps that enable the city to pump up to 180 megalitres per day against the city’s daily consumption of 150 megalitres.

The new equipment is set for commissioning at the end of this month.

Council replaced the old pumps at Fernhill and Ncema water works which were installed in 1973 and had outlived their lifespan affectingt he city’s pumping capacity.

The new pumps were installed under the US$33,6 million Bulawayo Water and Sewerage Services Improvement Project (BWSSIP) funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB).

The BWSSIP is meant to improve water and sewage reticulation systems in the city.

The project is 84 percent complete and had it not been for the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, most of work could have been completed by now.

The installed pumps can deliver 180ML of water per day but council cannot pump such amount of water now because it wants to conserve its dwindling water supplies.

Bulawayo is experiencing the worst water crisis in years which has seen it decommissioning some of its supply dams because they have not received significant inflows during the past two rain seasons.

The Criterion Reservoir which works as a buffer for any disruptions has dried up for the first time in the city’s history.

The installation of the new equipment is a major development which guarantees reliable and sustainable water supplies for the next 30 years and beyond.

This was revealed during a councillors and media tour of the projects under implementation and a visit to Umzingwane Dam, one of the three decommissioned supply dams.

BCC director of engineering services Engineer Simela Dube said the obsolete equipment had to be replaced for council to efficiently provide water to residents.

“Since 1973 these pumps were working almost daily and you can calculate how many years those pumps had been running. And because of their age we had to come up with a replacement programme which is the project that we are working on under BWSSIP which is looking at the rehabilitation of those pumps,” said Eng Dube.

“The project was meant to be commissioned early March but had to be postponed because of the outbreak of Covid-19. We now expect these pumps to be operational by November 25. Each pump is designed to deliver almost 90ML of water per day and therefore two of them have a combined capacity of 180ML.”

He said the city was hoping for improved rainfalls in the 2020/21 rain season to enable it to fully utilise the new pumps and provide adequate water to residents.

Meanwhile, Town Clerk Mr Christopher Dube said people calling for the de-siltation of the city’s supply dams were self-serving and had no interest of solving Bulawayo water crisis,

“The dams are not silted as people want the public to believe. We are aware that there are some people who want to be involved in the de-siltation for personal gain.

They should be honest and say they want to benefit from the exercise as they want to look for gold. Our fear is that they are going to interfere with the marine species and disturb the environment as well as our infrastructure in the dams,” said Mr Dube. — @nqotshili.