The Bulawayo City Council (BCC) is considering drilling 3 kilometre-deep boreholes at a new aquifer in Matobo which can supply the city with about 40 megalitres per day.
According to National Geographic, an aquifer is an underground layer of rock that holds groundwater.
BCC’s engineering services deputy director Engineer Sikhumbuzo Ncube told reporters on Wednesday that the aquifer, which is within Matobo District, is not like the usual underground water that the country is accustomed to drawing. Said Ncube:
This is deep-seated water which you drill for 1 to 3 kilometres going down. So, there is a need for highly technologically advanced equipment like geographic information system (GIS) and other probing mechanisms which ensures that you can access it.
The current position is that we have had meetings with experts that have done the same in Botswana, Somalia and so forth where they have actually drilled these boreholes and it has actually yielded results.
… We are in the process of coming up with a concept note working with Zinwa to access funding to carry out the feasibility study. But the understanding is that we can secure between 20 and 40 ML of water from that area.
Bulawayo has been facing perennial water challenges which were exacerbated by a severe drought during the 2019/20 rainy season.
The much-touted Zambezi Water Project expected to end the water crisis in Zimbabwe’s second-largest city remains a mirage.