The Bulawayo City Council has suspended the 120-hour water rationing programme to most of the city owing to reduced pumping capacity at the Ncema Dam plant where there are ongoing maintenance works.
In a statement, Bulawayo town clerk, Christopher Dube, said ongoing repairs and maintenance works at Ncema led to extended water supply interruptions. He said:
The City of Bulawayo would like to advise members of the public of the extended water supply interruptions and suspension of the 120-hour (rationing) to all city areas except industry and central business district which was initially scheduled to finish on Friday, 16 February 2024.
Due to unforeseen circumstances, the repairs and maintenance works at Ncema have taken longer than planned.
The city will continue to experience reduced raw water pumping, which in turn will cause a reduction in treated water production during the scheduled time.
To protect the reservoirs from collapsing due to a reduction in raw water deliveries and treatment, the City of Bulawayo will irregularly open water supplies to prevent communities from stretching too long without water.
The Bulawayo City Council introduced the 120-hour water-rationing schedule in December last year due to low levels of water in the city’s supply dams.
Before the introduction of the 120-hour water-shedding regime, the city was on a 72-hour water-rationing programme.
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