Maravi

Power outages force EWSC to start rationing water

Power outages force EWSC to start rationing water
Written by Christopher Miti in Chipata
Thursday, June 04, 2009 11:32:36 PM

THE Eastern Water and Sewerage Company (EWSC) has said it will start rationing water in light of the persistent water shortages that have been caused by frequent power outages.

And Eastern Province has been badly affected by the prolonged load shedding being effected by Zesco Limited owing to reduced generation capacity at Kafue Gorge due to a blockage of water intakes at the power station by the Kafue weed.

EWSC public relations manager Mike Daka said the company used its two pumps to pump water whenever there was power to try and address the water problem.

Daka said there were some areas in Chipata that were not receiving water even when others on the lower places had the commodity.

He said the company had made an arrangement with Chipata Municipal Council and was also looking to other stakeholders that could help in distributing the water in areas that did not receive the commodity even when there was electricity.

“There are some upper places like Kalongwezi, Chimwemwe, Kanjala and Chipata Motel areas where people are not having supply even if power comes because they only have water when levels in our tank are high so when it’s just the minimum water levels that we have, the upper places because of their location, they can’t have supply so we will try to see how we can regulate our valve and see whether we can direct to those upper places that are not receiving anything at all,” said Daka.

Many Chipata residents wake up in the early hours to fetch water in distant places.

And almost all the districts in the province have been affected by the power outages.

The districts that are badly hit include Chipata, Katete, Petauke, Nyimba, Chadiza and Mambwe.

Former Nyimba district council chairman George Phiri said it was sad that Zesco did not inform people in advance about the power outages.

“We rarely have power in Nyimba, sometimes we can have power around 03 hours but it goes after an hour or so. As I’m talking to you now there is no power here,” said Phiri.

Lundazi and Chama are the only districts that have reliable power supply because they are fed by Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM).

Labels: EASTERN WATER AND SEWAGE COMPANY, MIKE DAKA

posted by MrK @ 10:36 PM