THE Nelson Mandela Bay Metro will be without water within the next five to six months if drastic measures are not taken to avoid Day Zero.
This is according to the DA in the metro, who held a digital press conference on Thursday.
PR councillor and DA leader in the Eastern Cape, Nqaba Bhanga, said that no significant rain is forecast for the next six months, which means that the metro is in serious trouble.
“At a time when water is of the utmost importance in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, Nelson Mandela Bay is on the brink of Day Zero.
“We are not expecting a flood event and that is what is needed if we want the dams at a decent level,” he said.
The metro’s combined dam levels currently stand at 22.02% capacity. The Kouga Dam is at 12.13%, followed by the Impofu Dam at 16.45%. The Loerie Dam is at 28.85%, Groendal Dam at 36.72% and the Churchill Dam stands at 68.65%.
According to Bhanga, the last 10% of water in any dam is unusable, which means that dam levels are technically at a combined level of 12.16% capacity. The party’s spokesperson for engineering and infrastructure, Masixole Zinto, said there are still 7 000 active water leaks in the metro.
The only way to ensure that the leaks receive the necessary attention, is to employ extra contractors, something that the current administration is allegedly delaying, Zinto explained.
“Even if residents have tanks full of water, they are wasting their time because there are so many leaks that need to be fixed. I also want to emphasise budget spending. In such a dire situation, we could only spend 20% of our R200 million drought relief fund. It means that there is money, but it is just not being used,” Zinto added.
The party said that the Impofu Dam was the main concern, as it was below the intake level, which meant that no water can be supplied from this dam.
“To augment this, 90 Megalitres of water is currently being re-routed from the Churchill Dam and pumped to the coastal western suburbs and areas such as Newton Park, Mill Park and Central,” Bhanga explained.
“The Impofu Dam is three times the size of the Churchill Dam and therefore, the Churchill Dam has shown a dramatic drop in its water level, which stood at 86.19% in November 2019. The extended drought will eventually lead to the metro not being able to extract water from the Churchill Dam.”
According to the DA in the province, they have come up with a plan that government can implement with immediate effect to avoid Day Zero.
This includes a request sent by DA caucus leader, Jonathan Lawack, to the Speaker of Council, Buyelwa Mafaya, to convene an urgent digital council meeting to discuss drought mitigation plans.
Other parts of the plan include:
. A letter written to the Department of Water Affairs (DWA) to send a water infrastructure engineer to the metro;
. A letter written to the MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA), Xolile Nqatha, requesting that the Eastern Cape CoGTA portfolio committee urgently convene to discuss measures to assist the metro;
. Urgent advice to be requested by council from national Treasury on measures to prevent the forfeiture of the R200 million Drought Mitigation Funding;
. Funds to immediately be made available by council to get the barge on the Impofu Dam functional within five weeks.
No comment could by obtained from the NMBM at time of going to print. In a previous statement, the metro’s Director of Water and Sanitation, Barry Martin, said that the drought is exacerbated by the need to continuously wash hands as part of the Covid-19 pandemic protocols to curb the spread of the virus.
- Dam levels have not been updated on the NMBM website at the time of going to print on Monday.
