Bulawayo City Council (BCC) could be forced to re-introduce water rationing soon as one of its major supply dams, Umzingwane Dam faces decommissioning due to low inflows.
BCC corporate communications officer Bongiwe Ngwenya revealed that the dam was initially set for decommissioning on 31 March but this was postponed after minimal rains were experienced in its catchment recently.
The latest council report shows that the decommissioning of the dam will result in a reduction of daily water use by 35 megalitres a day. Reads the report:
Umzingwane Dam was projected to be de-commissioned by 31 March 2022 if no significant rainfall occurs that would result in sizeable inflows to the dam.
The decommissioning would result in reduced available abstraction by 35 megalitres a day thus affecting total available raw water for delivery to Criterion.
Whereas Criterion would receive more than 110 megalitres a day of raw water and produce an average of 100 megalitres for the city reservoir levels to be stable and ensure continuous water supply.
In the event that the decommissioning of Umzingwane occurs, the department proposed an incremental shedding regime to be determined at the time of decommissioning vis-ร -vis the would be remaining available abstraction from other dams.
According to the latest dam statistics, as supplied by BCC, in total the dams are 58.12 per cent full.
Insiza Mayfair, whose carrying capacity is 173.4 million cubic metres, has the most water 78.1 per cent full.
Mtshabezi, with a carrying capacity of 51.9 million cubic metres is 75.67 per cent full.
Lower Ncema, with a carrying capacity of 18.2 million cubic metres is 75.39 per cent full.
Inyankuni with a carrying capacity of 80.7 million cubic metres is 51.9 per cent full.
Upper Ncema which has a carrying capacity of 45.5 million cubic metres is 14.58 per cent full.
Umzingwane which has a carrying 44.6 million cubic metres is 8.3 per cent full.
After Umzingwane, Upper Ncema is expected to be the next dam to be decommissioned with its depletion date set for 18 August 2022.
๐๐'๐ ๐๐ผ๐ผ ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐น๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ต๐ถ๐น๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ป๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐๐ถ๐น๐น ๐ฝ๐ผ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ป๐ด, ๐บ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ก๐๐ฎ๐บ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ๐น๐ผ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐พ๐๐ถ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ถ๐ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ด๐ป๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐๐ถ๐๐ต ๐๐ป๐พ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ. ๐๐๐ ๐บ๐๐๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฑ๐ฟ๐ถ๐น๐น๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐บ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ต๐ผ๐น๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ด๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ.