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Bulawayo - Despite the current heavy rains pounding the city, the water supply situation remains critical with the four dams currently having a combined total water supply of 40, 69 % compared to 52 % during the same period last year.

In an interview with The Zimbabwean, the mayor, Thaba Moyo, said despite the current rains, the city's dams had received insignificant inflows resulting in major water supply challenges for the city.

"As the year starts, the water supply situation remains critical with current water supply at a total of 40.69 %. Council is monitoring the inflows in this current rainy season and will continue to keep a close eye on the rate of consumption in order to ensure that the situation is kept under control," said the mayor.

He added that the city's water situation has also been worsened by the increasing population.

"This has been further exacerbated by old infrastructure which is prone to leaks and breakdowns," he added.

This year the council will embark on an extensive rehabilitation of the city's water reticulation network "We have engaged the Minister of Water, Sipepa Nkomo, over the precarious water situation in Bulawayo. I am happy to say that the ministry has now started

laying pipes to link Mtshabezi dam and Umzingwane dam. This project is expected to be completed within the next six months. This is a temporary solution which will go a long way in alleviating the water shortages while resources for Bulawayo's lasting water solution, the Matabeleland Zambezi water project,t are being mobilized," said the mayor.

The city's population of 1, 5 million currently consumes 135 000 cubic metres of water per day. In October last year the local authority announced that households in the high- density suburbs would have an allocation of 350 litres of water per day while those in the low density suburbs would have an allocation of 400 litres and industries were restricted to use 75 % of average six - month consumption.