BULAWAYO – The Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has suspended the weekly 48-hour water shedding programme introduced in February following a major rehabilitation of key infrastructure which has improved pumping capacity.
In a statement on Monday, the BCC said it would review the decision on August 9.
“The City of Bulawayo would like to advise consumers that it will be temporarily suspending the water shedding programme that was introduced in February 2019 with immediate effect,” the local authority said.
“The suspension comes after considerable progress of major rehabilitation works at Criterion Water Works, and the normalisation of the water supply distribution system. Currently, the raw water reservoir at Criterion – which is the city’s buffer – has continued to gain in volume with levels currently at 3.9 meters. We shall continue to monitor the reservoir level, which should ideally be at 5.5 meters.”
The council made another plea for consumers to continue conserving water, adhering to the approved daily water consumption levels which are currently 450 litres per day for high density suburbs, 650 litres per day for low density properties and 400 litres per day for residential flats.
“Excessive use of potable water, power shedding and maintenance works disruptions may result in the re-introduction of shedding,” the BCC cautioned.
The BCC embarked on a major rehabilitation project at its water treatment works with funding from the African Development Bank, which saw the local authority changing old pipes and valves which were replaced with more efficient modern equipment.
