Pamela Shumba, Senior Reporter
BULAWAYO’s supply dams are now 74,4 percent full.
According to the Bulawayo City Council, Insiza Dam was spilling while Upper Ncema was at 71,70 percent full and Mtshabezi at 79,49 percent full as of yesterday.
Inyankuni and Lower Ncema are at 37,81 percent and 37,80 percent full respectively while Umzingwane is 48,85 percent full.
The BCC has projected that the city’s dams now have water that will last for about three years.
The council’s public relations officer, Miss Bongiwe Ngwenya, said basing on daily consumption of water in the city, Bulawayo’s dams have water that will last for 35 months.
Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) spokesperson, Mrs Marjorie Munyonga, yesterday said the average national dam levels had risen to 61,6 percent up from 58,4 percent last week.
She said Bubi Lupane Dam in Matabeleland North was spilling while Khami dam on the outskirts of Bulawayo was already full.
“The national average dam level continues to increase with many dams filling up and spilling. The national dam level average now stands at 61,6 percent.
Those spilling include Chivero, Mazvikadei, Lower Mujeni, Lower Mguza, Insukamini, Bhiri-Manyame, Tuli-Makwe and Sebakwe.
“A number of dams have recorded increases with major gains noted for Mazowe and Siya. The major dams that include Mutirikwi and Tokwe-Mukorsi continue to increase steadily. Mutirikwi stands at 18,3 percent full while Tokwe-Mukorsi is now 22,5 percent full, volumes which are way above those for several dams that are registering 100 percent full,” said Mrs Munyonga.
She said Mtshabezi increased to 79,5 percent full.
“While the national dam level stands at 61,6 percent, Gwayi, Manyame and Sanyati’s catchment averages are above 100 percent while for Save, Umzingwane and Runde, the averages are all below 90 percent with Runde as low as 33,5 percent due to the enormous sizes of Tokwe-Mukorsi and Mutirikwi dams, the country’s major irrigation and water supply dams. Mzingwane stands at 88,9 percent while Save stands at 66,1 percent,” said Mrs Munyonga.
Last week, Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa said Government would prioritise the construction of Gwayi Shangani dam following the completion of the Tokwe-Mukosi dam.
The construction of the Gwayi Shangani dam is a major component of the long-awaited national Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project (NMZWP) which is expected to bring to an end the perennial water problems that Bulawayo has been facing.
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