THE Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has disclosed that it is making frantic efforts to repair malfunctioning bowsers to supply kiosks in the city with water.
In a statement, Bulawayo town clerk Christopher Dube yesterday said council was focusing on fixing bowsers to curb water woes faced by the residents.
“In light of the current constraints, the city is urgently pursuing repairs on some of the water bowsers. Our goal is to utilise these bowsers to supply water to designated water kiosks, thereby providing some relief to residents during this challenging period,” he said.
Meanwhile, Dube said the local authority had secured spare parts to fix one of the water pumps.
“The City of Bulawayo would like to advise residents and stakeholders that as of Thursday, April 10, the city successfully secured the required spare parts to effect repairs on the Sulzer raw water pump. Repair work commenced on Friday, April 11, 2025 and the teams are actively working to restore the Sulzer raw water pump to functioning order,” he said.
He said it was projected to be completed over the weekend, with pumping resuming on Sunday.
“The main raw water pumping stations at Ncema and Fernhill have been operating at only 50% of its usual capacity in the raw water delivery process. This reduction means that the amount of water being pumped to the city via Criterion has significantly decreased,” Dube said.
Dube said raw water pumping had been reduced to half recently.
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“Previously, we received 90 million litres of water per day (MLD) at the Criterion; and over the past few weeks we have been only receiving 45 million litres of water per day (MLD). The reduced water flow to Criterion directly impacts all levels in the interconnected reservoirs,” he said.
According to Dube, the Criterion reservoir is critical in supplying water to all other reservoirs and once it falls below 50-70% capacity, areas serviced directly from the Criterion line, particularly those near the Magwegwe Reservoir, will experience significant water shortages.
He said the local authority was also working on finding extra water pumping resources for backup.
“The city also wishes to make residents aware that even if the Sulzer raw water pump is re-commissioned, the city remains without backup or standby pumping and efforts are being made to mitigate the risk and ensure a safe fallback pumping capacity,” he said.
