BWB increases water storage capacity

Blantyre Water Board (BWB) water storage capacity has reached 90 million litres per day against a demand of 96 million litres per day, raising hopes that water supply problems will soon become history in the commercial capital.

The additional capacity has come about with the completion of three reservoir tanks that were handed over to the board on Friday by the contractor, Offshore Infrastructures Limited.

Speaking in an interview after receiving the three reservoirs and Mudi Pumping Station from the contractor, Sandram Maweru, Principal Secretary (PS) for Irrigation and Water Development, said the three reservoirs will help reduce the downtime that residents of Blantyre were facing whenever BWB had a breakdown.

He said: “Whenever there was a breakdown, it was very difficult for us to meet the demand for water for the people of Blantyre due to lack of storage. So, the additional storage created by the three reservoirs will ensure that we can repair faults, have power reconnected by Escom while people continue to receive water.”

James Naphambo, BWB chairperson, speaking in an interview on how the board intends to address the water supply needs of Bangwe residents, said the board is installing another water pipe from the junction between ThyoloRoad and Robert Mugabe Highway dedicated for supply to Bangwe and that should be up and running  before end of September.

The three water reservoir tanks and the Mudi Pumping Station were constructed using a $21 million (about K9.4 billion) funding from World Bank.

The reservoir tanks have been built in Chileka, Chimwankhunda and Chigumula in order to ease water supply problems in those targetted areas and each has a capacity of five million litres per day.