Bulawayo Council To Decommission Two More Supply Dams
The City of Bulawayo’s supply dams are just over 33 percent of their capacity with two more dams set to be decommissioned in the coming weeks.
The local authority decommissioned the Umzingwane Dam in November last year due to low water levels, and now council officials have announced that the Upper and Lower Ncema dams will also be decommissioned soon.
According to statistics provided by the Bulawayo City Council, the city’s supply dams are 33,16 per cent full, reported The Sunday News.
The latest council report shows that as of Friday last week, Insiza was at 46,21 per cent, Inyankuni at 23,65 per cent, Lower Ncema at 24,63 per cent, Umzingwane at 2,69 per cent, Upper Ncema at 8,99 per cent and Mtshabezi at 54,71 per cent. Reads the report:
The current 2023-2024 rainy season had approached an end with the city’s cumulative inflows to date being 17,7 million cubic metres, which translated to 4,28 per cent of the city’s dam’s full holding capacity.
Furthermore, in comparison to a similar time in 2023, the dams held 19,92 per cent more water than presently.Abstraction from supply dams totalled 2,9 million cubic metres while Mtshabezi pumped 324 565 cubic metres, thus an average delivery of 8,000 cubic metres a day versus the anticipated 17,000 cubic metres a day.
The variation was attributed to breakdowns and power outages affecting water delivery from Mtshabezi to Umzingwane for the years 2023 and 2024.
The council said the Upper Ncema and Lower Ncema dams were projected to be decommissioned towards the end of July 2024.
This will result in the city relying on the Inyankuni, Insiza and Mtshabezi dams as well as the Nyamandlovu Aquifer only.
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