Virunga Energie has just completed rehabilitation work on the water pipeline that supplies the Bushara reservoirs in the Nyiragongo region, near Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The 1,300-meter pipeline carries water pumped from Lake Kivu. The facility was destroyed following the eruption of the Nyiragongo volcano on May 22nd, 2021.
The Bushara reservoirs are expected to receive water again. Virunga Energy has just delivered the pipeline that supplies the reservoir in the Nyiragongo region near Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). “Our teams cleared 1,000 m3 of lava that was blocking the pipe. We also deployed laterite along the route of the pipes over the lava,” explains Ephrem Balole, general manager of Virunga Energy. The pipe was damaged following the May 22nd, 2021 volcanic eruption in Nyiragongo, which left seven Goma neighborhoods without potable water. The Nyiragongo volcano suddenly erupted after nearly 19 years of lull. It last erupted on February 17th, 2002.
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The rehabilitated water pipe is 1,300 meters long. The DRC’s Régie de distribution d’eau (Regideso) will connect this stretch of pipeline to the one from Lake Kivu. The public company treats the water pumped from the lake before distributing it to people in the villages of Turunga, Kiziba and Ngangi Nyiragongo, as well as in the neighborhoods of Katoyi, Bujovu, Majengo and Ndosho in Goma. The water pipeline rehabilitated by Virunga Energy is supported by 300 m of secondary lateral water pipeline. These facilities are insufficient to address the water shortage in this disaster area.
To improve the efficiency of Regideso throughout the DRC, the government is multiplying initiatives, including the Urban Drinking Water Supply Project (Pemu). The project benefits the cities of Kinshasa, Lubumbashi and Matadi. Pemu will require an investment of $360 million, of which $59.4 million is for the construction of an “industrial water treatment complex. The government is financing the project with a loan from the World Bank.
Ines Magoum
