The technical administrator of Águas da Região Norte (AdRN), Capitine Ernesto, explained that the reservoir of the Nampula dam, on the Monapo River, is at such a low level that a plan has been put in place to restrict supply to the city.

Currently, the supply to the city stands at 30%.

Built in the 1960s, the Nampula dam has a capacity of four million cubic meters, which at the time was enough for the city's 120,000 inhabitants.

"At this point we are 4.4 meters high out of the ten meters high reservoir, which means we can produce 17/18 thousand cubic meters a day. This is less than the demand from the city of Nampula, which is estimated at 120,000 cubic meters per day. Distribution is being controlled so that the little water we manage to capture and produce is enough for everyone," revealed AIM.

The source noted that in a normal situation, distribution is carried out for a maximum of 16 hours a day and that with the current crisis it has dropped to around eight and in some neighborhoods just two hours.

"However, we are prepared to face worse situations and that's why we have identified some sources which, although they are not enough, can help in the event of an imminent crisis. Here in the city of Nampula we also have four mobile stations and the biggest challenge will be distribution, but we have already activated the 50 points we had during the Covid phase to supply some of the most critical places at the end of the network."

In a normal situation, the Nampula dam, now just over 60 years old, produces an average of 40,000 cubic meters of water for a population of around 800,000 inhabitants. (AIM)