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Rejoyce Sibanda, Chronicle Reporter

BULAWAYO residents have expressed fears of outbreak of waterborne diseases as some suburbs have gone for more than a week without running water forcing some residents to fetch water from unprotected sources.

The water crisis has also led to open defecation especially in suburbs such as Nkulumane where residents said taps have been dry for the past three weeks.

This comes as the Bulawayo City Council has introduced a 48-hour water shedding programme in a bid to manage the city’s water supplies.

However, the local authority has struggled to maintain its water shedding timetable resulting in some areas going for three weeks without running water.

Concerned residents said the prevailing crisis could cost lives of some residents as what happened in  2020 when there was an outbreak of diarrhoea that claimed lives in Luveve suburb .

In suburbs such as Emganwini, water supplies were only restored yesterday after a week. The residents said what is worsening the situation is lack of communication by the city council. In some instances, pupils have been turned away from school due to water shortages.

A Chronicle news crew visited several suburbs yesterday where it observed residents queuing to fetch water at boreholes while others had dug wells near streams.

The residents told the news crew that health hazards that are as a result of fetching water from unprotected sources were unavoidable.

Mrs Musa Mkandla from Nkulumane 12 said the suburb has gone for three weeks without water.

“We have gone for three weeks without water and the only borehole we have is failing to cope with demand,” she said. 

She said residents were using the bush to relieve themselves and as such were worried that this could lead to the spread of diseases such as cholera and diarrhoea.

Mrs Mkandla said council should provide water using bowsers as it used to do in the past when there was no running water. 

Another resident Mr Ngqabutho Dube said some of the residents have resorted to recycling water to save the situation. He said most residents were spending half the day queuing for water, which was not good.

 

Mr Charlie Ndlovu also from Nkulumane said it was now very difficult to access clean water in the suburb.

“It’s been two weeks without water and I am forced to fetch water from other suburbs,” he said. 

Mr Ndlovu said sometimes residents fail to get water at the borehole leaving their situation desperate. BCC told our sister publication Sunday News that it has been struggling to stabilise the city’s water supplies blaming residents for hoarding.

BCC corporate communications manager Mrs Nesisa Mpofu said the water crisis has seen council introducing a city-wide 48-hour water shedding programme.

“The (water) system failed shortly after the scheduled shutdown of the Ncema Station. Demand surpassed supply. Yes, the dams are lower than they were in March when the original assessment advised shedding the city,” she said.

Mrs Mpofu said since then, the gap has been widening and will continue to widen as dam levels fall. “Beginning Saturday, we will reintroduce the 48-hour shedding programme throughout the city, starting with high-lying areas and gradually moving down to the remaining low-lying neighbourhoods.”

She said the council has been failing to cope with its scheduled water shedding programme due to increased demand.

“If the system fails, which is most likely due to water hoarding, daily water tactics are implemented. The 48-hour shedding programme could be implemented in the rest of the city, with the exception of the Criterion Reservoir Zone.”

Mrs Mpofu said raw water supply has decreased and actions have been taken to stabilise Criterion in accordance with the implementation of the 48-hour shedding scheme.