Restrictions on Maputo, Matola and Boane water supply expected to continue into 2019

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Restrictions on Maputo, Matola and Boane water supply expected to continue into 2019

1:37 CAT | 31 Oct 2018

File photo: Lusa

Restrictions on water supply, with water running for only part of the day, will continue in the Mozambican capital and surrounding areas until the end of 2019, the National Water Management Institute announced today.

Pointing to possibility of below-normal precipitation in the rainy season starting in November, said Agostinho Vilanculos, director of the National Institute of Water Management, is quoted today in the government information bulletin as saying, “the province and city of Maputo will continue to have restrictions on water supply until at least the end of 2019”.

Nevertheless, the outlook is good, given that in 2019 Maputo will benefit from a link to the Movene River and work to increase the storage capacity of the Corumana Dam is currently underway.

“In December, water distribution in the three regions of the province will be reassessed,” Vilanculos he said, referring to Maputo, Matola and Boane.

The capital and surrounding areas are feeling the effects of low levels in the Pequenos Libombos dam due to low precipitation in the 2017-2018 rainy season, itself following a prolonged drought the previous year.

Under even tighter restrictions between February and April, water was only available for only a few hours every other day. Consumers still routinely fill up containers during the hours of supply for use at other times.

Above average rainfall is expected in the centre and north of the country during the next rainy season in Mozambique, and the Chicamba and Cahora Bassa reservoirs “could register an increase above guarantee levels for water supply, irrigation and electricity generation needs”, the statement adds.

Source: Lusa