THE Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has warned residents against using borehole water for drinking and cooking purposes, saying the water was last tested for quality long back.
BY LUYANDUHLOBO MAKWATI
Speaking to Southern Eye yesterday, Bulawayo mayor, Martin Moyo said the local authority last conducted quality checks on borehole water a long time ago and could, therefore, not guarantee its suitability for human consumption.
Moyo, instead, urged residents to stock adequate water for cooking and drinking ahead of the water rationing regime, to conserve the little remaining at supply dams.
“We are encouraging residents to stock adequate water for drinking and cooking. Borehole water should be used for gardening purposes. The biggest challenge we have is that our teams have not done tests on borehole water in a while to determine whether the water is safe for consumption or not,” he said.
Moyo also decried the delay in pumping water from boreholes at the Nyamandlovu aquifer in Epping Forest to ease water shortages in the city when supply dams run dry.
The aquifer project is seen as a short-term solution to Bulawayo’s water woes.
“It is unfortunate that, as council, we thought that by the end of the year, we would be pumping water from Epping Forest, but our dream did not materialise, leading us to having these problems,” he said.
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“We thought that by this time, the short-term stop measure of pumping water would be functional while we are working on other plans, but we failed. The failure was due to the delay in tender process. All we are praying for is that we get more rains early and faster to fill our water sources,” he said.
Bulawayo residents have in the past gone for more than 72 hours without water after the decommissioning of supply dams.
The Bulawayo mayor recently warned of a 48-hour water rationing schedule due to dwindling water levels at supply dams.
