By KENNEDY MUPESENI –

THE Lusaka Water and Sewerage Company (LWSC) has resorted to massive water rationing due to a 50 per cent reduction in water supply from various sources.
The current water capacity is about 258 million litres per day, while demand has increased to more than 400 million litres per day indicating a deficit of about 50 per cent.
LWSC director of engineering Wilson Shane said the company has lost massive amounts of water because about 50 boreholes are completely dry while the water levels for some of the remaining 100 have gone down, hence the need to ration.
“The immediate shot-term measure is to start massive rationing of water to ensure equitable supply to everyone,” Mr Shane said.
He said this when a team of journalists visited Lilayi water shaft and the surrounding boreholes on Tuesday.
He said LWSC would soon issue out schedules and advisory in the media and other channels of communications.
A check at the Lilayi water shaft in Lusaka and other boreholes in the same area indicated low pumping, while some boreholes have completely run out of water.
On the future plans, the water company is investing to improve service delivery to most residents of the city and the surrounding areas.
To this effect, LWSC has developed a masterplan for water and sanitation services which requires an investment of more than US$4 billion in infrastructure development.
The Government has already sourced $355 million grant from the United States of American Government through the Millennium Challenge Corporation.
Mr Shane said this project was active and was now involved in various procurement processes adding that work would start early next year.
“Currently, the Government is also negotiating for a $150 million new water treatment plant to be constructed through the cooperating partner which will produce about 50 million litres under the Kafue bulk project,” he said.
The negotiations have reached an advanced stage and once the deal is sealed, it will take about 24 months to complete a new water treatment plant and 65 kilometre water line parallel to the existing one.
He said another water treatment plant with the capacity of 600 million litres was being planned to the tune of $505 million to be financed by the African Development Bank (AfDB) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).