Bulawayo residents cry foul over inconsistencies in water restoration strategy
Bulawayo residents have made reports of inconsistencies in the provisional water restoration strategy that is currently in place in light of the water shedding scheme. Residents cited that the prolonged irregularities in the supply of water has increased water woes in their communities as their access to water continues to be a challenge.
Infocus News
Water woes in Bulawayo continue to mount as suburbs that are supplied by Magwegwe reservoir such as Magwegwe, Pelandaba, Emakhandeni among others and those supplied by Criterion reservoir which include Tshabalala, Sizinda, Emganwini have been heavily affected by these irregularities and inconsistencies.
Women who spoke to Infocus News said this has compounded more water problems for them as they had adjusted to the water shedding schedules but of late these have not been consistent.
Tynie Shoko from Emgwanwini suburb said their area has had no water for almost two weeks and had forgotten about the schedule that the Council releases timely. She said most residents have also resorted to buying water as they had gone for weeks without running water.
“I can not even talk about the schedule that the City Council releases on a daily basis because we have not had water for almost two weeks. The water situation is getting worse and for us women who have to work it becomes hard for us to fetch water. Our children can only fetch water once and they go to play.”
“We have now resorted to buying water from those who have boreholes at 10 RTGS per 20-liter container. During the weekends we try to go and fetch water from the community boreholes,” she said.
Another resident from Magwegwe suburb, Mitchelle Ngwiro said lactating mothers have a burden as they are forced to walk long distances to suburbs that have water.
“I really think that women with young babies face a lot of challenges when it comes to accessing water. Children require water in order to be kept hygienic by all means possible. You realize that women from Pelandaba can come this side whenever they hear that there is water. For someone with a baby, it becomes very hard because you need to wash for them, bath them and keep their surroundings very clean but we cannot do that without water,” said Ngwiro.
Nomthandazo Mhlanga from Mpopoma suburb said she is disheartened as the schedule that is posted by the BCC is unreliable. She narrated about a missed opportunity for filling water containers together with her family.
“Our schedule has always been reliable, but lately it is not. When we woke up at midnight as we usually do to fetch water, we were surprised to find out that there was still no water. We waited in anticipation but to no avail. Now all of us have to go the borehole all day because I doubt that there are people who still have enough water as it has been days since we have had water,” she said.
According to reports by the media, scores of thirsty residents stampeded to fetch treated water which gushed out of the 140-megalitre overnight storage tank for about four hours at Bulawayo City Council’s Magwegwe reservoir, a clear indication that Bulawayo’s water woes are mounting with each passing day.
In a telephone interview with Bulawayo City Council’s Senior Public Relation Officer Nesisa Mpofu, she said some high lying areas are not receiving water because of the low pressure in reservoirs.
“Some areas are not receiving water because they are located in high level areas. For our daily schedule you will realize that we included information that there is an impeding Zimbabwe Electricity Distribution Company (ZETDC) shut down which will be carried out next week on Tuesday, 15th of September as it is no longer avoidable. Some of the areas will obviously be affected,” she said.
The dwindling levels of water dams which started in May forced BCC to introduce the 144-hour water shedding scheme. Residents have been forced to spend most of their productive hours queuing at community boreholes to fill up their containers.