From July until December this year, it is predicted that dams in Nelson Mandela Bay will gradually run out of water, one by one, if there is no significant rainfall, with KwaNobuhle being affected first and Kariega (Uitenhage) last.
According to a recent presentation by the executive director for water and sanitation in the metro, Barry Martin, by July this year, there will be no more extractable water in the Kouga and Loerie Dams, leading to a dry KwaNobuhle.
He added that, according to predictions, by the end of August, the metro could lose supply from the Churchill Dam, leaving more than 20 suburbs without water.
An additional nine suburbs will run dry when the Impofu Dam runs empty at the end of October and Kariega will be affected by December, when the metro loses the Groendal Dam.
Martin said that mitigation measures had been put into place, especially for KwaNobuhle, which does not have much time left.
This includes water tanks, which will be placed at 50 strategic locations across KwaNobuhle, two tanks per location.
“We are going to roll out this setup into Kwa-Nobuhle since they won’t be getting any water from dams. Water will come via water trucks and placed in 100 Jojo tanks.
“This will take place during the month of May so that it is in place come end of June,” Martin explained.
He added that other immediate intervention measures included the identification and repairs of water leaks, of which more than 31 000 have been repaired since July 2020.
The municipality is also partnering with the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber to assist with leaks at schools. The top 100 schools have already been identified where repairs of water leaks will take place.
A R200 million project to extract water from groundwater boreholes is also in the pipeline and high water users will receive water-flow restrictors.
The Grassridge Reservoir is also being converted into a temporary water treatment facility, producing an extra 35 megalitres of potable water a day.
“Currently, restriction notice eight is in place and we have identified the top 100 high water users. We are busy communicating with them and will go directly in to restrict these people.
“Sometimes, they might not even know that they have a leak on the premises, so we’ll use this opportunity to make them aware of that, fix the leak and then put in restricting devices,” he said.
He added that they were currently working on restriction nine, which could possibly include going to higher water tariffs.
As a medium-term intervention, Nooitgedacht Low Level Scheme phase three is progressing well and should be fully commissioned by September this year.
Martin mentioned that as soon as the metro gets this additional water from Nooitgedacht, they hope to have the Bloemendal to KwaNo-buhle pipeline in place by the end of November, so that water can be pumped through this pipeline to the lower parts of KwaNobuhle.
This means that about half or three quarters of KwaNobuhle can be supplied directly by Nooitgedacht. The upper parts of the area will be required to make use of water tanks at that time.
Long-term interventions include the Coegakop Water Treatment works, boreholes, the KwaNobuhle pump station and the desalination of sea water. Construction of these projects is scheduled to commence in either June or July and will take about a year to complete.
MMC for infrastructure and engineering in the metro, Masixole Zinto, highlighted that the best way to save water was to report water leaks and reduce water consumption.
“We have aging infrastructure so there will always be water leaks, but we have to report those leaks,” Zinto said.
Nelson Mandela Bay Mayor, Nqaba Bhanga, emphasised that now, more than ever before, the community needed to work together.
“The more water we save, the longer the water in our dams will last. The longer the dams last, the better the chance of rain to come and fill the dams and the more time we have until the delayed long-term water augmentation projects are completed. Together we can beat a dry July,” he said.
Meanwhile, Minister of Water and Sanitation, Lindiwe Sisulu, recently visited Nelson Mandela Bay to assess the water crisis in the metro.
She said that they came upon request from Bhanga and that national government is keen on ensuring that they can curb the unfolding drought disaster.
“We have assisted the municipality in a number of ways,” Sisulu said.
“The municipality has already benefitted from water tanks that we provided during COVID, but in addition to that in areas like KwaNobuhle, we have donated 100 more tanks,” she added.
“I have promised them too that I would take the request (for funding) to the Minister of Treasury, Tito Mboweni, because there is some money that we would want to load over to facilitate and ensure that we are in a position to withstand the drought.”
According to South African Weather Service Spokesperson in Nelson Mandela Bay, Garth Sampson, the metro basically needs a flood or mini flood (more than 50mm in 24 hours) to temporarily solve the current water crisis.
“The seasonal forecast is not showing much confidence either way but tends to an above average rainfall from June through to August then drying out again.
“However, above average rainfall will not be enough. We need an extreme event,” Sampson said.
He also made an appeal to residents to do their best to use water sparingly.
Areas that will be affected
By July 2021, The Kouga and Loerie Dams are predicted to run dry. The affected area is:
KwaNobuhle
By August 2021, the Churchill Dam could potentially run dry. The following areas will be affected:
Murray Park
Denholme
Crockarts Hope
Westlands
Baywest
Rendalton
St Albans
Clarendon Marine
Fitchholme
Beachview
Korsten
Ibhayi
Wedgewood
Fairview
Royalston
Parsonsvlei
Mount Pleasant
Charlo
North End
Kini Bay
Gqeberha Farms (Farms PE)
By October 2021, the Impofu Dam could run dry. These areas will be affected:
Mill Park
Mangold Park
South End
Walmer
Summerstrand
Humewood
Mount Road
Newton Park
Central
By December 2021, the Groendal Dam could potentially run dry. This will affect:
Kariega (Uitenhage)
Kariega Farms
Source: NMBM
