The ManicaPost
Lovemore Kadzura
Rusape Correspondent
THE current debilitating power cuts besieging the country have left local authorities exposed as they are failing to pump water at their stations leaving consumers relying on unsafe water sources.
Most local authorities in Zimbabwe rely on electricity to draw water from sources, treat it at plants and pump it into homes and industries. It is a process that takes a while for water to reach residents’ taps.
For the past month, electricity supply has been erratic resulting in councils failing to provide the precious liquid.
Although the power cuts are beyond their control, residents still inundate councils with demands of water, since it is the local authorities’ responsibility to do so.
Manicaland Province boasts of several rivers and dams lying idle which can be turned into sources of renewable energy and help to address power outages.
According to Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe (IDBZ), the Osborne Dam Mini-Hydro has capacity to generate 1,7 Megawatts, while the Odzani Dam’s capacity is yet to be established.
Ironically, Mutare City sources its raw water from Odzani and Pungwe rivers which have five points that can generate electricity.
At the turn of the new millennium, some investors from India were reportedly interested in setting up a mini-hydro plant at Lake Rusape.
Rusape Town Council sources 60 percent of its water from this dam.
Besides issuing apologies on a daily basis, explaining the non-availability of water, what are the local authorities doing to circumvent the power cuts?
In Rusape, residents of wards One, Six and Nine can go up for a month without water.
Acting Rusape town secretary, Mr Togarepi Nerwande said they have entered into Private Public Partnership with Texas Energy to set up 5MW solar plant to power their two water treatment plants.
On the reported mini-hydro power plant, he said there is nothing in their records that suggest there were once attempt for such project and referred question to Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA), the custodians of the dam.
“Rusape Town Council is experiencing severe power load shedding of more than 18 hours per day against demand of 24 hours to enhance a reliable water supply chain. This has negatively affected the supply of water to residents, with some areas going for days without water.
“To circumvent the challenge, council is pursuing a partnership with Texas Energy to adopt green energy and install solar plants at its water treatment infrastructure to augment supplies during load shedding period and also feeding into the national grid.
‘‘However, you should note that the project is meant to reduce operational costs as it may not be possible to entirely run the facilities on solar power only without conventional power. Land has already been identified measuring 10 hectares which will be leased out to the contractor,” said Mr Nerwande.
Texas Energy is a division of Solgas, an Independent Power Producer which has developed and commissioned a 5MW solar plant at Cross Mabale in Hwange and the plant is feeding into the national grid since October 2021.
Mutare City Council spokesperson, Mr Spren Mutiwi said the local authority is using generators at their treatment plants.
He added that they will carry out a feasibility study on the mini-hydro plants and this has been included in their 2023 budget.
“The impact is manageable as it is mainly affecting the treatment processes. Council has generators at these critical sites. However, these need upgrades and alternate sources of power.
“The points (mini-hydro stations) are yet to be established through a detailed feasibility study which was budgeted for in next year’s budget.
‘‘The detailed feasibility study will determine the output on the points. The only point that had pre -feasibility done indicated 0.7MW which needs to be finalised after a detailed study.
“The detailed feasibility will determine the funding options, however, capacity is limited, therefore external funding will be sourced,” said Mr Mutiwi.
