As the heatwave in Malawi reaches its peak, Blantyre residents will have no water to cool themselves as Blantyre Water Board (BWB) has temporarily shut down Walkers Ferry Pumping Station.
According to BWB, the shutdown has been made to allow maintenance works after an assessment revealed that vandals had cut off a valve spindle, disrupting water supply to several areas.
In a statement, the board said most areas supplied by BWB would experience water supply interruptions as technicians work to repair the damaged infrastructure.
The board said the assessment had established that the valve spindle, which is used to open and close the valve, had been cut off.
The damaged valve is located in a pipeline interconnection chamber in Chileka, along the transmission pipeline from Walkers Ferry Pumping Station to Chileka Pumping Station.
The board had earlier reduced pumping capacity at Walkers Ferry to 50 percent to minimise water loss through the damaged section.
However, the latest update indicates that the station has now been temporarily shut down to facilitate maintenance works.
The board apologised to affected customers for the inconvenience and condemned the vandalism, saying such acts disrupt water supply and undermine service delivery.
BWB said it would start deploying water bowsers to the most affected areas, with priority given to hospitals and public institutions.
The board has not indicated when the maintenance works will be completed and normal water supply restored.