AS the ongoing drought continues to grip the Kouga region, the Kouga Municipality council adjusted its capital budget on Monday, September 6, to prevent taps from running dry.
Despite recent rains, the two biggest dams, Kouga and Impofu stood at 5% and 17% respectively. The Churchill Dam was at 19%.
Council has applied to National Treasury and the Department of Water and Sanitation for additional funding to augment the current water supply to the municipality.
“However, we cannot wait to see if our application is successful and, therefore, had to adjust our capital budget to make provision for drought mitigation projects,” said Kouga finance portfolio Councillor, Brenton Williams.
“Provision has been made for R11 million to connect additional bore holes in Humansdorp, while R900 000 has been made available for groundwater investigation for additional bore holes in St Francis Bay.”
According to Williams, an extra R3.6 million will be budgeted for the continued upgrade of the Hankey sanitation system, while R600 000 is also on the adjustment budget for groundwater investigations in Thornhill and Loerie.
“Another R2.8 million is on the budget for bore holes in Hankey,” he said.
“Council has, furthermore, applied to national departments for R101 million in drought funding to investigate desalination and to install prepaid meters throughout Kouga.”
