Correspondent
Analysts have predicted above to normal rainfall this season but the absence of such measures as desiltation means the rains may not mean much for residents.
According to the latest Global Agricultural Geo-monitoring Initiative (GEOGLAM) global outlook report, Southern Africa may receive more rainfall compared to the 2019-2020 farming season.
Marondera, like most towns, has been struggling for water and a dam filled to capacity would have provided one part of the solution.
Currently, Wenimbe has two water pumping stations and a 16 km pipeline from the dam to the drinking water plant.
Normally, the pumping capacity of the installations is 540 m³ per hour.
Currently, the actual production is only 270 m³ per hour. The reason for this low efficiency is that the Wenimbe dam has been operating for several years with only one set of pumps.
The rehabilitation, according to ZINWA, would require US946 000.
Siltation Problem
Aside from those mechanics dams such as Wenimbe have over time silted and are very much in need of desiltation but ZINWA has allowed the opportunity to lapse.
Sites of Wenimbe currently reveal a heavily silted dam.
Silt is a sedimentary material consisting of grains or particles of disintegrated rock, smaller than sand and larger than clay.
Silt is often found at the bottom of bodies of water where it accumulates slowly by settling through the water.
Thus siltation is the process of slow accumulation of silt in the bottom of water bodies.
Siltation is a widespread problem in Zimbabwe, mostly driven by the raindrops and running water’s power to erode.
Stream bank cultivation in most parts of the country has been the major driver for siltation affecting streams, rivers and dams.
The process of desiltation would have dealt with this problem and meant the dam would be filled to capacity when the rains start.
Alas we have failed to do the basics again.
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