BCC Water Kiosks Initiative Goes Live

Bulawayo City Council’s initiative to provide residents in high lying areas that are hit the hardest by the city’s water-shedding schedule has been rolled out and beneficiaries have started to draw water from the water kiosks erected by the city in partnership with private partners, the Chronicle reports.

The initiative which is benefiting about 14 suburbs has seen BCC erecting 10 000 litre tanks which are filled 3 times a week and the following suburbs have benefitted from the initiative:

Nkulumane which will have 4 tanks; Pumula South (3), Harrisvale (3), Sunninghill (2), Cowdray Park (2), Magwegwe (2), Tshabalala (2), Lobengula West (1), Lobengula Extension (1), Pumula East (1), Old Pumula (1), Emganwini (1), Lochview (1) and Woodville (1).

Yesterday BCC commissioned 6 kiosks where mayor Councillor Solomon Mguni said the kiosks were meant to argument water shortages in the 25 areas that have been identified by the city.

However, a resident that spoke to the publication said the kiosk does not entirely solve their problems as the eater was not enough to cater for them all:

As Pumula South residents we have a serious water challenge. Since the start of the year we have not received any tap water. We rely on water delivered by Schweppes. We are grateful for this programme that brings relief to us.

We still have a serious problem. Water is delivered three times per week to a 10 000 litres jojo tank. The three deliveries mean that we get 30 000 litres per week and we have about 250 households fetching water from the kiosk.

This means in a week each household gets about 100 litres of water which is not adequate. We wish that they increase the water deliveries to four times a week.

Bulawayo’s water woes reached a breaking point last month as the city was hit by a typhoid and dysentery outbreak that killed 13 people and infected over 1500 more.

More: Chronicle