BULAWAYO City Council (BCC) says it had started pumping safe water after a fault linked to the poor quality of the precious liquid in Tshabalala has been rectified.
There were reports last week that residents in Tshabalala, Mondela Beer Garden and Tshabalala Extension were receiving water that was producing a bad odour.
According to reports, sewage flowing behind Mondela Beer Garden following a sewer blockage and water leaking from the same place had mixed leading to the smelly water.
However, in a statement yesterday, Bulawayo town clerk Christopher Dube said the Bulawayo sewer teams responded swiftly to a sewer blockage in Tshabalala.
“This fault was prioritised ahead of other faults as it was suspected to be linked to the poor quality of drinking water in the area. Other blockages in the vicinity [Tshabalala, Indlovu Youth Centre, Mondela Beer Garden] were also cleared in coordination with water teams who kept the water lines under pressure to avoid ingress of sewage into the water lines. Having cleared the sewer blockages, water teams then came in to plug leaks in the water reticulation network,” he said.
“During the water repair works, inline chlorination was done and was followed with monitored flushing of the system after completion of the repairs.
“This was to maintain public health safety while repairs were being carried out. Council teams continue investigating and close monitoring of the reported possible contamination cases. Water samples were taken to a laboratory for analysis.”
Dube said the community through the ward councillor had been advised not to drink the water pending final testing after completion of repairs and flushing of the water system.
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“Water supplies are currently open to allow for continuous flushing of the system and final testing by the water quality team on Monday. In the interim, a water bowser has been dispatched to the area for potable water delivery.
“Furthermore, the clearing of sewer blockages that was done was an immediate response as the area is known to have recurrent blockages and has been listed as one of the hotspots to be attended by contractors under the ongoing framework agreement of clearing of sewer blockages,” he said.
Dube also revealed that a truckload of sand, rags, bottles and bones were removed from the system indicating that there was high system misuse, exacerbating the situation.
“Meanwhile, an exercise to identify system misusers is being carried out with backyard kitchens at shopping centres being the probable culprits for throwing bones into the sewer system.
“The City of Bulawayo wishes to apologise to its valued consumers for the inconvenience caused and assures the community that all measures are being taken to ensure delivery of safe potable water to the community,” he said.
