GQEBERHA – Residents across Nelson Mandela Bay continue to experience widespread water outages despite recent heavy rainfall that significantly replenished dam levels across the metro.
A Level 6 Orange weather warning brought days of intense rainfall across Nelson Mandela Bay last week, rapidly increasing water levels in the city’s supply dams.
However, despite dams reaching full capacity, many communities remain without reliable water supply due to severe strain on the municipality’s integrated water distribution system.
Last week, the municipality confirmed that all major dams supplying the metro had reached full capacity following two days of heavy rainfall.
Water system under severe strain
In a statement issued today, the municipality says the ongoing disruptions are caused by a combination of high turbidity levels, operational failures, electricity interruptions and pressure imbalances within the water reticulation network.
Reservoir levels remain critically low, with most operating between 0% and 10%, resulting in widespread low pressure and intermittent or no supply across large parts of the metro.
High turbidity caused by the heavy rains has also reduced treatment efficiency at several water treatment works, slowing production and delaying system recovery.
Officials say the system was already under pressure following earlier electricity-related disruptions.
Water consumption has further worsened the situation, with demand currently estimated at around 380 megalitres per day compared to the normal 280 megalitres.
Recovery could take a week
The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality said they are implementing operational adjustments to its water pumping, reservoir and distribution systems to speed up recovery and improve water management amid ongoing disruptions across the city.
Executive Mayor Babalwa Lobishe said investments in the municipality’s integrated water system are expected to speed up recovery.
“The current situation will be mitigated by the investment we have made in the system. We have worked smart to create an integrated system and enhanced our pumping and distribution capacity to be able to rechannel water from areas that have sufficient supply to strained areas,” Lobishe said.
She added that temporary water supply measures would be implemented in areas experiencing prolonged outages.
The municipality added that the Nooitgedagt Water Treatment Plant is currently operating at 200 megalitres per day, while Schonnies pumping operations are maintained at 66 megalitres per day.
Other treatment works, including Loerie, Churchill and Elandskloof, remain operational.
Officials said recovery efforts in the Motherwell zone are showing gradual improvement, with plans to boost supply toward Stanford and Chelsea once stabilisation is achieved.
Despite these interventions, authorities warned that full recovery of the system could still take more than a week.
Municipality criticised
Meanwhile, DA Mayoral candidate Retief Odendaal criticised the municipality’s management of the system, questioning why reservoirs remain depleted despite full dams.
In a social media post, Odendaal said the situation “makes little sense” and argued that the metro should have a fully functioning system given the availability of raw water.
He added that water is being redirected between reservoirs, leaving some areas critically low.
“Whilst Emerald Hill now has water, it has come at a cost — Driftsands and Heatherbank are now empty with Airport Reservoir no doubt soon to follow,” he said.
Odendaal also raised concern over Motherwell Reservoir remaining at 1% capacity despite receiving supply from the Nooitgedagt system, arguing that insufficient pressure is preventing water from reaching higher-lying areas.
Residents in suburbs such as Lorraine and Kamma Heights have reportedly experienced prolonged outages lasting up to two weeks, with municipal teams currently inspecting valves and pressure systems.
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