Lands, Agriculture, Water, Fisheries and Rural Development Minister, Anxious Jongwe Masuka said that the prevailing El Nino spell will dissipate by May this year giving way to a neutral phase.
El Niño occurs on average every two to seven years and typically lasts nine to 12 months.
El Niño and La Niña are the extreme phases of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle; between these two phases is a third phase called ENSO-neutral.
In November 2023, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said the current El Niño developed rapidly during July-August and reached moderate strength by September 2023 and was expected to peak as a strong event in November – January 2024.
Speaking on Wednesday at a media briefing soon after he met with the Bulawayo Technical Committee on Improving Water Supply at Mhlahlandlela Government Complex in Bulawayo, Masuka said (via ZimLive):
Fortunately, the El Nino is rapidly waning and it is predicted that by April or May 2024, we will be in a neutral phase and we look forward to even a normal rainfall season next year.
So, the crisis will probably have been short-lived thus we requested the technical committee to look at that.
Masuka also said the Technical Committee will explore ways in which to maximise the Nyamandlovu aquifer which is currently producing 12 million litres a day and exploit more aquifers around the province. He said:
We asked the committee to refocus their efforts on ensuring that the Nyamandlovu aquifer can give us the maximum that it was designed for, currently, we are getting 12 Mega-litres from it but we expect that the minimum we should be getting is 16 megalitres.
This low water harvest in our aquifer is due to vandalism taking place but we are going to activate state security apparatus to ensure that this is nipped in the bud.
Apart from adding more aquifers, the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has proposed a Private Sector Investment in one of the dams and this team will expedite the evaluation process so that the approvals can be granted formally for this complementary investment.
As the government, we are looking at a long-term supply guarantee solution which is the Gwayi-Shangani River that will see 220 megalitres a day going into the city and giving Bulawayo eight years of water supply.
The Technical Committee was set up to assist the City of Bulawayo in ensuring that they have adequate and safe water.
In December 2023, the City of Bulawayo extended water rationing by an additional 48 hours, bringing the total rationing time to 120 hours.
Authorities said the decision was made due to a significant drop in water levels in the city’s dams.
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