Zimbabwe capital water woes may lead to rationing

According to the City Council, the controlled water supply will see some suburbs getting water three days in a week following low rainfall experienced in the country this season.

0
1642
Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, is poised to experience water shortages after The Harare City Council announced the introduction of water rationing system in the city.

According to the City Council, the controlled water supply will see some suburbs getting water three days in a week following low rainfall experienced in the country this season.

Harare Town Clerk, Engineer Hosea Chisango revealed that suburbs in the capital will go without water as a key water treatment plant will be closed for maintenance following the reduction of water levels in the dam.

“This year there are predictions of low rainfall compelling the city council to introduce water rationing system in order to ensure residents get water throughout the season, and the cleaning of the water treatment plant is aimed at removing algae so that residents can get clean water,” he said.

Currently, Morton Jaffray Waterworks is pumping about 350 megalitres to Harare, a drop from 540 megalitres in recent months due to a prolonged drought and shortage of water treatment chemicals. Harare requires 1200 megalitres of treated water a day.

Meanwhile, Bulawayo, the second largest city after Harare, is mulling over the introduction of water flow limiters in a bid to manage the use of the natural resource.

Flow limiters/restrictors are gadgets installed on a water tap to limit the flow of water from one’s tap without reducing water pressure.

The city, which has had its own perennial water challenges, has since been forced to disconnect water supplies to households that have defaulted on bill payments.

According to Bulawayo City Council (BCC), the water restricting gadgets will assist residents saddled with council debt.

“The device restricted one’s consumption to predetermined levels of supply and it was most useful to those residents who could not afford to pay their bills. It would restrict them to the allocation of 5 kiloliters, specific water meters who need to be installed as the old water meters are not suitable for this exercise.” read the city’s Future Water Supplies and Water Action Committee report.

According to the report, the city’s six supply dams are 65.58 percent full with the current water supplies expected to sustain the city until 2021.