WATER ALLOCATION CAPACITY AND DROUGHT CONTIGENCY PLANNING IN

A study was carried out in Ruwa to assess the town’s water allocation capacity and drought contingency measures. Structured questionnaires and interviews were used to collect data from 60 residents and selected key respondents. The results showed that Ruwa dormitory town did not have an independent water supply system and was linked to the City of Harare water supply system. Water storage facilities at Ruwa consisted of one, 2,000 m3 reinforced concrete ground reservoir and the other, 1800m3 braithwaithe tank on a 12m high stand. Some 16.6 % of the residents (n=60) had unprotected illegal wells dug on their stands to supplement water during needy times. Ruwa Local Board had a total of five boreholes to supplement the piped water system within the town. Water supply rate by the Board has been increasing from 8,671cubic metres in 1987 to a peak of 797,216 cubic metres in 1998. Drought contingency measures in the town included sinking of shallow wells, pressure reduction, restriction of use of hosepipes and water rationing. The Board had to increase the number of boreholes and install an independent water supply as drought contingency measures. It is recommended that the council should employ qualified personnel in the works department, who should put in place water consumption monitoring measures and improve on communication with residence in order to reduce confrontations