Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. The City of Bulawayo said it will decommission Umzingwane Dam this Friday due to critically low water levels.
The development will worsen the city’s water crisis as residents are currently enduring a 72-hour weekly water shedding programme.
In a statement on Friday, Bulawayo Town Clerk Christopher Dube said Umzingwane Dam is being decommissioned as water levels have receded to just 6.6 per cent. He said:
The City of Bulawayo would like to advise residents, stakeholders and members of the public that Umzingwane Dam (volume-6.6 per cent) will be decommissioned on Friday 9th September 2022 due to low water levels. This will result in five out of six dams remaining operational.
… Due to the low levels of Umzingwane dam, the city has been unable to meet its daily demand which averages between 155megalitres ML per day.
The maximum available raw water supply is currently below 120 ML/per day. As a result of the gap between demand and supply of 35ML/per day, the city has been on a water-shedding regime, which has been progressively implemented from a 48-hour to a 72-hour schedule.
The City of Bulawayo wishes to apologise to its valued customers for the inconvenience caused.
Dube also revealed that Upper Ncema Dam was also critically low at 7.6 per cent while Inyakuni Dam is 45 per cent full and Lower Ncema 47 per cent full.
He said the only dams with water levels above 50 per cent are Insiza Mayfair at 69 per cent and Mtshabezi Dam at 71 per cent.
Dube blamed climate change for low rainfall in the dams’ catchment areas which has resulted in reduced inflows. | Chronicle
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