BY STAFF WRITER
Victoria Falls City Council has blamed the perennial water shortages, especially in summer, on inadequate infrastructure.
Some residential areas have gone for over two months without reliable water supply.
Usually, council struggles to supply sufficient water between August and December due to depleting water levels on the Zambezi River, which makes pumping difficult.
Mkhosana suburb endures dry taps on a daily basis because pumping is direct from the treatment plant to houses while in other high density suburbs such as Mfelandawonye and Chinotimba, water is only available at night because the section of the suburb is on higher ground.
Town clerk Ronnie Dube told VicFallsLive that due to obsolete infrastructure and lack of funds to purchase the new ones, the city was unable to provide smooth service delivery.
“I think people should understand the issue of water because this has been an ongoing problem, not because Dube is the town clerk,” Dube said.
“It’s a legacy issue where I find that the town has been growing without corresponding infrastructure and development.
“The council in 2014 came up with a feasibility study for a water and sanitation project, which was valued at US$14 million and from 2014 to date, we have failed to raise money to do that project until this year where we disposed of some piece of land for about US$4 million.
“We are already in the process of tendering. So by the end of this month we would have flighted a tender from Mkhosana water reservoirs and we hope that those reservoirs will now help with supplying water in those low lying area of Mkhosana.”
He revealed that the crisis has also received the attention of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, prompting him to make a pledge to ensure the government to provide US$6 million.
The money has not been disbursed.
“The money that we are using in this work was raised internally,” Dube said.
“The council is trying to use whatever is at its disposal to try and solve the dilemma that they find themselves in.
”When the president of Zimbabwe came to Victoria Falls he promised to helps us with US$6 million for the river pump station and for our water works, but that money is still pending.
“It hasn’t been given to us or neither has there been any contractor assigned to do that work.”
Dube pleaded with residents from low density areas to be considerate of those who live in high density areas as they fill their jojo tanks for the purposes of gardening.
“People should use water sparingly during this time of the year where water levels in the river are low and water consumption is too high,” he added.
“People use portable water for both their gardens and for consumption, so we ask people to stop the issue of using horse pipes and the issue of filling water in large containers like jojo tanks so that water is shared by many people.
“Imagine if someone has a 10 000 litre jojo tank and he or she fills that tank before someone in Mkhosana gets water.
“The problem needs to be managed and the residents should also take responsibility and everyone else in the city should also take responsibility until this matter is resolved.”