Gweru River (known as Gwelo River until 1982) is a river in Midlands Province of Zimbabwe.
The name Gweru is a further distortion of the name Gwelo which was a distortion of the name Ikwelo meaning a very steep place where one would usually use a ladder upwards or downwards. Itself a distortion of the original Kalanga name of Gwelu an abbreviation of Gwelumatjena meaning the river of white stones. Legends say when Ndebele people first settled in the area, their women found it very difficult to draw water from the river because of its slippery steep banks.[1][2] The river was then called 'Ikwelo' because the greater part of this 100 miles (160 km) long river has slippery steep banks all the way to its mouth in Shangani River. Women used ukwelo (ladder) then to help them fetch water from the river.
Gweru City was named from Ikwelo River. The European settlers pronounced as iGwelo shortened to Gwelo and after independence Zimbabweans shonalized it to Gweru, hence Gweru River.[3]
Gweru River has the 100 hactare Mabangeni Irrigation SchemeinLower Gweru and the 165 hactare Exchange Irrigation SchemeinZhombe supplied from Insukamini Dam and Exchange Block Dam respectively. Mabangeni Irrigation Scheme draws water from Insukamini Dam via a pick-up weir on Gweru River.
Semi-treated sewage has been polluting Gweru River over the years.[4] but the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) is taking steps to harness water pollution in this and other rivers nationwide.[5]
In another effort to fight water pollution in Gweru River a Midlalands State University student advocated awareness by junior secondary school students on Gweru River pollution and siltation. The campaign has been received by many organizations and schools in Gweru, the prime pollutants drainage basin of Gweru River.
These are the original names based on Maps produced by the government of Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe.[6][7]
GWERU City Council is discharging partially treated effluent into the environment owing to the repeated breakdown of the two sewage treatment plants, a senior official has revealed. Acting director for engineering services Praymore Mhlanga said lack of resources to repair the treatment plants has seen the local authority being taken to court by the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) and at times fined. Over the years, the council has been slammed for discharging raw sewage into Gweru River posing a health hazard to humans, animals and plants.
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