Gweru raises Gwenhoro water works pumping capacity

GWERU City Council (GCC) has started installing the US$74 000 transformer at Gwenhoro water treatment plant, which would increase the water pumping capacity from 35 megalitres to 53 megalitres a day.

The development is expected to curb water shedding through improved supplies. Of late, Gweru residents were resorting to unsafe water sources, which increased the risk of water-borne diseases.

So dire is the situation that in some suburbs residents’ queue for water at boreholes up to midnight.

Gweru mayor, Councillor Martin Chivhoko, said the local authority was working on addressing the water situation and hoped improved pumping capacity would be a game changer.

“Our transformer is now at Gwenhoro water treatment plant and ZETDC staff are currently installing it and in a few days we hope to commission it,” he said.

“This will enable us to add an extra 18 megalitres to the system from the current 35 megalitres to around 53 megalitres per day, which will ease the rationing schedule.”

Cllr Chivhoko said the transformer was bought for US$74 000.

“We are now waiting for the connection to the National Grid this week,” he added.

Cllr Chivhoko said the installed capacity for water treatment at the plant was 67 megalitres against the required capacity per day of 125 megalitres.

“So, we need to upgrade the treatment plant and also increase the low lift and high lift pumps,” he said.

Speaking during a Water Ideas Summit organised by the Gweru Residents and Ratepayers Association (GRRA) recently, acting town clerk Mr Livingstone Churu said although Gweru was in the process of addressing pumping capacity challenges at both Gwenhoro and Whitewaters water pumping stations, the move will most likely result in fresh problems.

He said the water reticulation system in Gweru was now obsolete hence the need to invest in a new system to meet the growing population and new settlements around the city.

Gweru District Development Co-ordinator Mr Tarisai Mudadigwa said water is a basic human right and council should try by all means to provide residents with the precious liquid.

“Our transformer is now at Gwenhoro water treatment plant and staff are currently installing it and in a few days we hope . . .

“Residents go for months without water and that should not be the situation,” he said.

In March, President Mnangagwa urged local authorities to plan ahead of population growth by coming up with proper service delivery projections that will ensure that service delivery is not affected as is now the common sorry state of affairs in councils across the country.

He was addressing residents after he was conferred with the Freedom of the City status.