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Nqobile Tshili, Chronicle Reporter
THE Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) yesterday started drilling 10 new boreholes and additional 10 others at Epping Forest aquifer to augment Bulawayo’s water supplies.

The project will add 10 megalitres (ML) per day to Bulawayo and is being implemented at the same time with the 42KM Mtshabezi-Ncema pipeline duplication project which upon completion will contribute an additional 8ML per day from Mtshabezi Dam.

Currently, no water is being drawn from Epping Forrest as the existing boreholes are not functioning while the city is drawing only 17ML per day from Mtshabezi Dam.

Zinwa is pushing to complete the two projects before the end of October to add 25ML per day to the city.

The city is drawing water from Rochester Aquifer in Nyamandlovu after Government released $10,6 million for the rehabilitation of 10 boreholes in the area a few months ago.

Two weeks ago, Treasury released $205 million for Bulawayo water augmentation scheme as the city is experiencing one of its worst water crises.

From the $205 million, $130 million will be used to rehabilitate and drill 20 boreholes at Epping Forest while the rest will be channelled towards improving supplies from Mtshabezi Dam.

The projects are expected to ease the water crisis which could see Bulawayo relaxing the 144-hour weekly water shedding schedule meant to manage dwindling water levels.

Lands, Agriculture, Water and Rural Resettlement ministry, Zinwa and Bulawayo City Council officials have set up a monitoring and evaluation technical team to oversee the implementation of the water augmentation projects in line with President Mnangagwa’s directive.

The team yesterday visited Epping Forest to mark the start of the project.

The news crew observed technicians drilling one of the boreholes while authorities stated that they were rehabilitating others.

Unlike the residential boreholes that most people are accustomed to, Zinwa is drilling industrial and sophisticated ones that can pump up to 50 000 litres per hour compared to a maximum of 2 000 per hour used for domestic use.

The ground in Nyamandlovu also requires specialised drilling system as failure to do so could result in the boreholes collapsing.

The drilling, rehabilitation, equipping and connection of the boreholes to power will cost about US$1,5 million, officials said.

They could not immediately state how much it will cost to complete a single borehole.

Speaking on the sidelines of the project launch, Zinwa chief executive officer Engineer Taurai Maurikira said they were implementing President Mnangagwa’s directive to ensure that the Bulawayo water crisis is addressed as a matter of emergency.

He said the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water and Rural Resettlement, Zinwa and BCC have come up with a technical committee to oversee the implementation of the critical projects.

Eng Maurikita said the Epping Forest project is one of the low hanging fruits in addressing Bulawayo’s water crisis.

“The reason why we here today, is to see the commencement of the next phase which is the drilling of 10 new boreholes, rehabilitation of another 10 boreholes and equipping of the 20 boreholes. That programme is expected to be done in the next two and a half-months starting today. You might realise that two and half months is round about end of October. To us that’s a long time; it’s quite a while and we are thinking of drastically cutting down on the time by way of availing extra equipment,” said Eng Maurikita, as he commended Government for releasing the funds.

“In two and half months or less than that, we should see the injection of another 10 ML per day to the BCC system. The next stage which will be covered through the disbursement of the $205 million is going to be the optimisation of the Mtshabezi Dam pumping system. The 42km pipeline (to Ncema) which we are going to work on will be implemented concurrently with the Epping Forest project. The Mtshabezi system will inject a further 8ML all in all. With the projects, that I’ve mentioned we are going to inject an extra 25ML to the BCC which although not enough will go a long way to alleviating the critical situation that we find ourselves in.”

Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water and Rural Resettlement chief director in charge of water resources and irrigation development Engineer Tinayeshe Mutazu said Government was on the ground to ensure that the President’s directive is implemented.

He said Government has several other projects that it is working on to improve water supplies in the city.

“Government also plant to do works on the Mtshabezi line, which is going to boost water supply along that line, adding another 8ML per day so that we move from 17 to about 25 ML per day. We are also hoping that the Inyakuni line will be boosted and will inject another 12ML per day along with what is coming from Insiza,” he said.

BCC Engineering Services deputy director Eng Sikhumbuzo Ncube said the city was looking forward to the completion of the Epping Forest project to supply water to Bulawayo.

He said while the demand for water during the water shedding period is about 108ML per day, the city’s pumping capacity was constrained to about 80ML per day while water demand is expected to worsen during the summer season. — @nqotshili