Bulawayo Mayor calls for govt intervention on city...

Bulawayo Mayor calls for govt intervention on city’s water crisis

Oscar J Jeke

The Mayor of Bulawayo, David Coltart has called for the intervention of the government to solve the deepening water crisis in the city.

This comes as Coltart took a tour of the Umzingwane River that flows into the Umzingwane Dam, which has been reduced to a dry puddle, with the country feeling the effects of the El Nino drought, Matabeleland region has been the worst affected.

In a post on X, the mayor said that government needs to intervene urgently as the situation requires remedial measures with a call for financial assistance to aid the construction of diversionary pipelines and upgrading pump station and pipelines from the various dam supplies.

“The government needs to declare Bulawayo as a water shortage area and we need urgent financial assistance to take a variety of short-term remedial measures to mitigate the crisis,” Coltart said.

The Bulawayo Mayor also named specific areas that require financial assistance to bolster and mitigate the water crisis with Nyamandhlovu Aquifer pumps, Mtshabezi pipeline, Inyankuni Dam and Insiza Dam among the places and sources that need upgrading and construction.

“These include getting the Nyamandhlovu Aquifer pumps up to full capacity (and then protecting from theft), constructing a diversionary pipeline on the Mtshabezi pipeline direct to the Umzingwane pump station, upgrading the Inyankuni dam pump station and duplicating the pipeline from the Insiza Dam to Ncema water purification works,” Coltart added.