Falling water levels in Kariba have necessitated Maamba Collieries Ltd (MCL) to relocate its pumps to a new location in the Kariba Lake to provide water essential for the boilers of its 300-Megawatt power plant.
MCL runs two power-generating units, with a capacity of 150 MW each of which consumes about 9,000 cubic meters of water a day when running at full capacity. Low rainfall during the last rain season caused water levels at the primary location of the pump station in Lake Kariba to drop dramatically from the usual 9-meter depths to zero levels leading to the water at the pumps running dry.
Mindful of the power crisis in the country and the need to generate essential power, MCL redeployed its pumps to a new location to keep the thermal plant of the nation’s largest independent Power Producer – IPP operation at the full capacity and avoid further load shedding.
However, the water at the temporary pump station set up about 400m from the original suction point, also dried up last year, despite dredging efforts to sustain water depths.
Speaking to the media, Maamba Development Trust Manager Jethro Sikalundu said: ‘‘We have been experiencing very low rainfall in this part of the country this year and that has impacted us heavily to the point where we have lost the depth completely at our original pump site. When water levels started reducing following last year’s drought, we had to move quickly and establish an alternative temporary pumping station -400 meters from the original site. We installed four pumps each with a capacity to pump 500 cubic meters of water an hour to the power plant 28km away,’’ he said.
Sikalundu further explained that despite dredging, the temporary pumping site also ran dry, forcing yet another relocation of the pumps further up the lake in deeper waters. With the urgency of the situation, the MCL swung into action and within three weeks created infrastructure including temporary power lines and sub-stations, creating a road to transfer the heavy pumps and laying high capacity pipelines to install the two- 132Kw pumps at an alternative pumping point further up the lake to keep the plant operating at full capacity.
Meanwhile, Mining manager Scott Phiri, who led the team in the execution of the work, said: ‘‘Installing the pumps at a deeper location was not easy in crocodile-and hippo infested infrastructure waters, as these had to keep at bay as men worked in knee-deep waters. We often had to seek the assistance of wildlife wardens to ensure safety,’’ he said.
Some stakeholders have attributed the low water levels at Kariba dam, the country’s largest hydro power generation reservoir to large water diversion from both large scale Agro activities and industrial use, which Maamba has also been sighted as the main contributor to diminishing water levels.
