Water goes on sale as crisis deepens
ORGANISATIONS and individuals with access to water have started selling the precious liquid at prices ranging from 20 cents to 50 cents per 20 litre bucket as the water crisis in Bulawayo deepens with some suburbs going dropless for almost a week.
The latest development comes when it has emerged that the Bulawayo City Council has for the past years repeated rhetoric about solving the city’s perennial water problems when in fact, it has been abandoning key water projects only to talk about them when there is a crisis.
Some residents told Sunday News that they were now buying water from “water barons” who were cashing in on the situation.
“The situation is forcing us to buy water whether we like it or not. We don’t know when the city council is going to avail water for us and it becomes very bad for us who have more than three children who go to school every day,” said Miss Nobukhosi Sibanda from Cowdray Park.
Mrs Martha Moyo from Emganwini said: “We have been buying water for the past four days and at first we thought that these people were being evil and inconsiderate but now we have realised that they are helping us.”
Sunday News also managed to talk to some of the people who are selling water. A Mr J Ncube, who is the secretary of Mthombowesizwe Garden in Entumbane told Sunday News that the money that they were charging for people to get water from the borehole was used to maintain the garden.
“We don’t sell water but the money that people pay is used to maintain the garden for example repairing the fence and pipes. Those with gardens pay $2,50 per day while ordinary people pay 20 cents per bucket. We are not selling water but we are trying to raise money to buy a water pump. It is difficult to drain water from the borehole hence people are only paying 20 cents which is a reasonable price,” he said.
Bulawayo United Residents’ Association chairman Mr Winos Dube said residents were disappointed with the way the water crisis was being handled by the city council but condemned those who were selling water.
“I am disappointed by how the city council is handling this whole issue, they should have been open and told people the truth than to keep them in the dark but that should not make people see this as an opportunity to make money,” said Mr Dube.
Bulawayo City Council senior public relations officer Mrs Nesisa Mpofu said council was against the sale of water no matter the circumstances.
“The City of Bulawayo has been notified of the reports that have been taking place in Cowdray Park and Emganwini areas. We will be sending teams on the ground to investigate this. Anyone found doing so will be penalised and restriction discs will be put on their properties. We will also disconnect supplies. We encourage residents to desist from doing so as this has been draining the limited resources the city has and prevents people from high lying areas from accessing water when it is opened.”
She also said the council was doing all it can to address the water-shedding issue and asked the residents to be patient.
“We would like to advise residents that due to low reservoir levels the city is struggling to adhere to the schedule at the present moment. We will be varying the schedule as per availability of water. We are asking residents to appreciate that we are trying to build reservoirs and thereafter try our level best to stick to the original water shedding schedule,” said Mrs Mpofu.
As the water crisis continues, it has also emerged that the council has for the past 10 years not covered much ground in the drilling of more boreholes at Epping Forest in Nyamandlovu despite them continuously claiming that the project had now commenced. Residents have been paying $1 per month water levy, which was initially meant for the duplication of Insiza pipeline, however, the council later resolved to redirect the fund to the Epping Forest water project.
When a Sunday News crew visited the Epping Forest site last Thursday, workers were busy on site working on completing a pump house while they had already completed one reservoir, work on the second reservoir had not yet commenced.
Investigations further revealed that out of a total of 77 boreholes at Nyamandlovu Aquifer just 25 were operational while 20 were being rehabilitated by Zinwa. Mrs Mpofu confirmed that Zinwa was in the process of rehabilitating 20 of the boreholes in Nyamandlovu noting that already two were already now online.
“We have a total of 77 boreholes at the aquifer, 25 were working and 20 needed urgent rehabilitation, which was being attended to by Zinwa of which I understand they have already completed two of those 20. About 11 boreholes rehabilitated under GIZ funding are currently non-operational. These boreholes are still under contractual obligation since the maintenance period has not yet lapsed,” said Mrs Mpofu.
Zinwa-Gwayi catchment area manager Engineer Chengeto Gozo confirmed that work at the Epping Forest had begun but hinted that the project may take longer than anticipated. He said the first phase of the project, which comprises civil work, is expected to be completed in the next five months while the second phase of drilling 10 boreholes was yet to start as the tender was still before the State Procurement Board.
Eng Gozo’s remarks contradict the position taken by council which seems to suggest that the Epping Forest project was an immediate solution to the city’s water woes. The local authority has also been harping on the same tune for more than a decade each time the city was confronted by water shortages.
While Eng Gozo said Lot B comprised drilling of 10 boreholes the country’s director of engineering services, Engineer Simela Dube, in a presentation before the water crisis committee last month, said 20 boreholes would be drilled.
“With regards to progress of the project, it was sent to tender and was divided into two lots, Lot A which essentially comprise civil works and Lot B is essentially the drilling of 10 boreholes. The tender for Lot A has been awarded and the contractor is on site and has started working on the pump house and he will very soon start on one of the reservoirs. Lot B which is the borehole drilling is with the SPB and they are working on the documents and we are awaiting their response and once they give the green light we will start working,” he said.
Added Eng Gozo, “The whole project was supposed to take six months and we are one month through with Lot A and we expect to have completed Lot A in the next five months. Lot B will be dependent on time it will have been awarded and it will take us another six months to complete from the time the tender will have been awarded.
“Council has requested 10 mega litres per day and this project will supply that and I’m confident that we will surpass that. Rochester borehole is currently fluctuating between four and five mega litres and with the coming in of the Epping Forest we should be able to surpass 10 mega litres.”
When the water crisis committee was initially formed in 2012, the then Minister of Water Resources, Management and Development, Dr Samuel Sipepa Nkomo gave the impression that the governments of Germany and Australia had made commitments to cover the major costs of the emergency projects in the city with $991 750 meant for the rehabilitation of 26 faulty boreholes at the Nyamandlovu Aquifer, which was expected to be complete in four months.
A total of $277 300 was said to be meant for the setting up of a dedicated power supply for two booster stations; Rochester and Cowdray Park, in order to avoid load shedding and the project duration was expected to last two months, which was within the four months it would take to revive the Nyamandlovu boreholes.