Uitenhage is on the verge of running out of water as Kouga Dam levels continue to decline with no prospects of significant rainfall for the next three months.
The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality Water Services department has started to prepare for what seems to be an inevitable situation.
On Thursday, April 15 the department held an urgent meeting with all KwaNobuhle councillors to take them through the imminent crisis and the crisis management measures that will be rolled out to mitigate the impact of the drought.
Part of the mitigating measures that will be implemented are as follows:
1. The residents and businesses must drastically reduce consumption from the current 300 million litres to below 250 million litres
2. Use less than 50l per person per day.
3. Recycle grey water for irrigation, washing cars and other non-consumable needs.
4. Use a basin to take a bath and save the grey water for flushing.
5. Washing cars with hose pipes is strictly not allowed.
6. Filling swimming pools with tap water is strictly not allowed.
7. Acceleration of fixing of water leaks, more especially in Uitenhage, will form part of mitigating factors.
8. Installation of water tanks in strategic areas across KwaNobuhle to augment supply when the area finally runs dry.
The Kouga Dam is critical to the provision of water in the Uitenhage area as most of the water coming from that side is pumped towards Uitenhage and the surrounding areas.
Currently the dam level is below 5% and with the current consumption, by July there will no longer be water coming through from Kouga, resulting in taps running dry.
Addresing councillors, Mayoral Committee Member for Infrastructure and Engineering, Councillor Masixole Zinto said: “We can only get water for KwaNobuhle from Kouga dam when its above 3 percent, once we pass that, we will run out of water. The situation is so dire, we need councillors to be on board to assist us in making our communities understand the crisis we are currently under”.
He said the situation looks bleak and only working together can mitigate the effects of the crisis. “In as much as other areas think that they will not be affected for now, as we do not forsee significant rainfall coming our way. As we continue as normal, sooner than we think the whole City will be affected and will have serious negative economic effects,” said Zinto.
Next week the Municipality will call a press conference to give a detailed presentation of the current situation and plans to augment water distribution and mitigate the crisis.
