DONORS who had offered to drill community boreholes in Bulawayo’s Cowdray Park’s Garikai/ Hlalani Kuhle residential area have abandoned the project after the few drilled boreholes failed to yield adequate water volumes, council has said.
by NQOBILE BHEBHE
Latest council minutes indicatedsome boreholes drilled in the area had dried up.
Most houses which fall under the Hlalani Kuhle Phase Two scheme have had no running water since they were built in 2006. Recently, council urged the residents to embrace the prepaid water system and get connected to the city’s main water pipes.
Some residents, out of desperation, have dug shallow wells at their houses while others rely on water trapped in pits dug by sand poachers.
Local councillor Collet Ndhlovu has since requested that Cowdray Park should be considered when funds for drilling boreholes became available.
“Donors abandoned this exercise when they failed to reach the water table. Only 30metres was drilled which did not yield any results,” the council said in its report.
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Councillor Monica Lubimbi said only one borehole in her ward (29) was working.
Council engineering services director Simela Dube said the drilling of the boreholes was based on the surveyor’s findings.
According to the minutes, the city has 355 mapped boreholes and water quality testing of boreholes with 197 boreholes already tested. Of these 185 had consumable water.
