The Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) has announced that it has resuscitated all but one of its water supply stations that were affected by the recent cyclone dubbed “Cyclone Idai” that hit the Southern Africa region.
According to the authority,repair works have been done on 12 water supply stations that were either affected or equipment damaged by the devastating cyclone, and normal services have been restored.
“People in Murambinda, Nyanyadzi, Matendeudze, Chibuwe, Tanganda, Birchenough Bridge, Rimbi, Odzi, Romsely, Zimunya, Checheche and Chipangayi areas are now receiving normal water supplies,” said the authority.
Also restored are Nyanyadzi and Middle Sabi Irrigation systems.
The authority is mandated by the Zimbabwean law to mitigate the impacts of floods and drought.
According to Zinwa, supply of water has been restored in Chimanimani and Chipinge areas, with the majority of households already having water on their taps. Chimanimani and Chipinge water systems are managed by their respective rural districts councils and Zinwa intervened in its capacity as the Government’s water resources management lead agency.
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“In the case of Chipinge, the water treatment plant is now fully functional while the Zinwa teams on the ground have also managed to repair three out of the seven boreholes in the area.Only Biriwiri water supply station is yet to be restored and work is already underway to ensure that normal pumping resumes at the station.”
The works carried out so far has managed to restore basic water supplies with more work still needed to ensure the restoration of the systems to their previous state.
Some of the works that Zinwa carried out include the replacement of washed away water delivery mains, replacement of washed away reticulation pipelines, replacement of flooded pump sets and the repair of blown away water storage facilities roofs.
In the case of damaged irrigation infrastructure at Middle Sabi, the Authority repaired the eroded irrigation canal embankment, repaired canal access roads, removed silt from the overnight storage dams and replaced washed away canal panels.
The Authority has also, through its Groundwater Section, drilled boreholes in four localities of the affected regions.
Water has also been made available at all accessible camps through water bowsers and tanks that Zinwa has deployed as part of its interventions to bring safe potable water to affected communities.
A total of 46 water tanks and two water bowsers were deployed in the affected areas to ensure that people accessed safe potable water.
The Authority has pledged to continue to work with all the relevant stakeholders in alleviating the plight of the people affected by the cyclone.
