Harare (New Ziana)-Water levels in the country’s major dams are rising due to the rainfall activity being experienced in most parts of the country, an official said on Friday.
The country has been receiving heavy rains with the Meteorological Services Department this week warning of flash floods in some places.
In a weekly update, the Zimbabwe National Water Authority corporate affairs and marketing manager Marjorie Munyonga said as of Wednesday, the national dam level average had risen to 87 percent pointing to improving water security for urban water supply and irrigation agriculture.
“The national dam level average is significantly higher than the 66.6 percent dam level average expected during this period of the year,” she said.
She said the number of dams filling up and spilling was also on the rise with at least 48.2 percent of the major dams already spilling as of February 2.
“Dams that are now full, and spilling include Chivero, Mwenje, Masembura, Biri, Rufaro, Arcadia, Rusape, Muchekeranwa, Bangazaan, Ngondoma, Roswa, Tshangwa, Muzwhi and Wenimbi among others,” she said.
Munyonga said Umzingwane and Upper Ncema Dams, which supply water to Bulawayo, also recorded some significant inflows in the past days, though their levels remained critically low.
“Mzingwane Dam is now 12.7 percent fullfrom 4 percent on February 1, while Upper Ncema is now 12 percent compared to 2.9 percent on February 1, 2023,” she said.
Masvingo’s water supply dam, Mutirikwi was now almost full at 95.8 percent while Tugwi Mukosi was at 90.7 percent level.
Munyonga said regardless of these increasing water levels in the dams, ZINWA continued to remind water users that water remained a finite resource and should be used as sparingly as possible.
“Farmers and other raw water users intending to draw water from ZINWA dams in the coming irrigation season are therefore advised to start working on renewing or getting their water abstraction agreements in readiness for the season,” she said.
“The raw water users are advised to approach their nearest ZINWA offices for assistance. These water abstraction agreements allow ZINWA to efficiently allocate the available water among competing users.”
New Ziana
