By Blessings Chidakwa
KADOMA water supplies are set to improve following the purchase of a new pump to draw water from Claw Dam, while repairs of other pumps at its various plants are nearing completion.
The city has been facing acute water shortages which have seen some parts going for years without receiving the precious liquid from their taps.
Speaking during a tour of the city’s plants, Kadoma caretaker commission member Mr Martin Kagogo said water supplies were set to improve significantly following increased pumping capacity.
“There is a new pump at Claw Dam, which only needs a switch gear for it to be functional. We are hopeful that once its installation is complete, water supplies will improve,” said Mr Kagogo.
“We are also hoping to use the new pump to cater for new areas like Victory Park so that there won’t be any water challenges in that area.”
Victory Park has over 5 000 housing units
Mr Kagogo said apart from the Claw Dam pump, council was also resuscitating other pumps at Shore Pumping Station, which supplies raw water to Blue Rangers and Pasi treatment plants for purification.
“There are six pumps at Shore Station, with four in the old plant and two pumps in the new one. However, only two are functional in the old plant, one developed an electric motor fault, while the other one has damaged bearings,” he said.
He said the broken down pumps would be functional soon, with one of them expected to be functional by next week.
At the new plant, he said one of the pumps was universal, while one of them was in the process of having its seals assembled before it could start pumping water to residents.
The caretaker commission chairperson bemoaned the increased number of illegal water connections between Claw Dam and the treatment plants.
He called on the police to bring to book the culprits, while urging residents to report such cases to avoid unnecessary leakages which affect the city’s capacity to supply residents with water.
On average, Kadoma pumps about 13 mega-litres of raw water to its treatment plants. The Herald.