GWERU — A German Development Corporation (Giz) official attached to the Gweru City Council has said the municipality should urgently address the issue of pump and tap leaks as studies had shown that the local authority was wasting a lot of treated water through seepage. STEPHEN CHADENGA OWN CORRESPONDENT
Speaking at an interaction with councillors at Town House on Wednesday, the Giz technical expert Boris Bisa revealed that they had carried out a study in the two suburbs of Mambo and Mtapa where they discovered that most households were wasting water through dripping taps and pumps.
Bisa said that instead of council continuing to appeal to Giz for assistance in projects aimed at enhancing pumping of water from other dams in addition to the city’s main supplier, Gwenoro Dam, it should seriously consider conserving water through attending to water losses and rationing.
“We did a study in Mambo and Mtapa suburbs as the oldest suburbs in the city where we discovered that out of 150 households, one out of two households had serious problems of water leaks through taps and pumps. A lot of treated water is being wasted,” Bisa said.
Bisa said there was need to ration water and avoid such losses through discharge adding that increasing pumping capacity at Amapongokwe Dam was not the immediate solution.
“Actually that increased capacity will see more water being wasted and will quickly dry the dam,” he said.
