Butterworth water woes

TO the powers that be, the national government/water affairs; the Amathole District Municipality, the people of Butterworth (a town with a rich history) deserve much better than the thunderous silence we have encountered regarding the supply of water.

Drought is here BUT what contingency measures are currently in place or under way to restore water provision to all the town’s inhabitants?

When all townships, schools and a tertiary campus are without a single drop of water, and even a hospital’s supply is threatened – it seems that NOT a single soul has come forward publicly with a permanent solution.

With all the multimillion-rand infrastructure projects mentioned in the papers recently, could the civil engineers not be commissioned to pipe water from the Mbashe River to replenish the Xilinxa Dam, the main supplier of Butterworth?

Surely that would be a permanent solution, something for posterity. Such measures have been implemented elsewhere – piping water from the Orange River in the Free State down to the Fish River in the Eastern Cape. The people of Butterworth deserve better! The Butterworth Municipality has been dysfunctional since August last year, emanating from petty political squabbles. But water provision is a competency of national government through the district municipality. Please help! — Sityhilelo Malusi, Butterworth

IN THESE times of drought and water crises, I feel the public should be more informed about our situation in East London.

We have a few dams feeding our citizens fresh water, but we are not informed about the levels of our dams, or about how silted up they may be.

Could I suggest that the Dispatch, together with the weather report on page 2, publish a list or a diagram showing each dam’s level and capacity? Maybe it could also be stated how many days of water are left at the current levels of consumption.

This would help stimulate public awareness about our situation. At this stage I feel we are completely in the dark and there is little incentive to use water sparingly. — Philip Harper, via e-mail