Águas de Maputo admits it cannot control alternating water supply

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Águas de Maputo admits it cannot control alternating water supply

2:24 CAT | 16 Feb 2017

O País

Some neighbourhoods of the Mozambican capital and Matola have been without water for more than a week, and supplier Águas da Região de Maputo (AdeM) says it has reduced production at the Umbeluzi station by about 50 percent to save water. This is what, according to the company’s spokesman, is worsening water restrictions and the situation is beyond the company’s control.

“Our room for manoeuvre is quite limited, because the volume we are distributing is the same (for all neighbourhoods). What we do is to alternate the distribution or redirect the water, so we can see how we rebalanced the network,” AdeM spokesman Afonso Mahumane for Águas de Maputo said on STV’s ‘Linha Aberta’ (Open Line) program on Tuesday. Mahumane said neighbourhoods without water for more than a week are those on high ground far from the main distribution line.

The National Directorate for Water Resources warns of even greater restrictions if it does not rain in the coming months. “The water we have now amounts to about 50 percent of the amount we need to satisfy consumers for a year. If we cannot double this, we will have to continue with the restrictions and, at some point, we will have to tighten them even more,” National Directorate for Water Resources representative Rute Nhamucho said on the same program.

One of the alternatives to public water distribution is private providers, but these are also running out of supplies because the demand is higher. “We have colleagues who say they can no longer maintain the reserves they held earlier. What we had as a capacity has fallen because a number of consumers who were not being supplied by the private networks are now turning to us,” said Adriano Chirute, president of the Association of Water Suppliers of Mozambique (AFORAMO).

Águas da Região de Maputo imposed the restrictions on supply about a month ago. Boane, Matola and the capital Maputo are all affected by the restrictions.

Source: O País