By Bulawayo Correspondent

THE City of Bulawayo is set to commission three of its main water supply dams which were decommissioned early this year after they had run out of water.

The city decommissioned Umzingwane, Upper Ncema and Lower Ncema, leaving itself with only three water supply dams.

Bulawayo is serviced by six dams.

However, addressing journalists Monday, the city’s mayor Solomon Mguni said the water situation in city dams had slightly improved since the onset of the rain season.

“The City of Bulawayo’s supply dams have received 28 million cubic meters of inflows since the onset of the rain season with the bulk of the inflows going into Insiza Dam due to its catchment size,” he said.

“The city’s three decommissioned dams that is Umzingwane, Upper Ncema and lower Ncema now have a usable volume of 11 million cubic metres and can now be decommissioned to reduce the current shedding period affecting the residents of Bulawayo.”

Mguni said his council would urgently prioritise the decommissioning of the three dams so as to ease the water challenges being faced by residents.

“I am aware of the considerable strain which is being faced by the residents of Bulawayo due to water shedding. It is my council’s hope that the recent water inflows, while still low, will assist in alleviating the stress faced by the residents.

“The re-commissioning strategy is of the high priority to the City of Bulawayo and various efforts are being made to ease the current water shedding burden. As part of the re-commissioning strategy for bringing back online, the three decommissioned dams, the city had proposed the raw water from Umzingwane, Insiza, and Inyankuni will be utilised to feed the new Flowserve raw water pumps and pipeline while Upper and Lower Ncema will feed the Ncema water treatment works for clear water pumping for the Tuli reservoir,” said Mguni.

The city of Bulawayo has been experiencing an acute shortage of water due to successive years of droughts.