RUNNING OUT OF WATER
Province requires R7.7bn to deal with the drought situation
THE Eastern Cape government needs R7.7-billion to deal with what it calls one of the worst droughts ever experienced in the province.
This was presented by senior cooperative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta) officials to the standing committee on water and sanitation in national parliament on Wednesday.
The report paints a grim picture of areas such as Joe Gqabi, where two dams are standing empty.
The report said municipalities had exhausted their operational budgets on water tank supplies and other immediate interventions.
The province’s drought costs still have to be changed and projects requiring funding assistance must be identified.
The report states that the lion’s share of the R7.76-billion needed – R7-billion – is for Nelson Mandela Bay Metro. Alfred Nzo municipality needs R500 000, Amathole needs R18.5-million in the short term and R4-million in the medium term while Chris Hani needs R78-million.
Joe Gqabi needs R4.5-million and O R Tambo R75-million.
Sarah Baartman needs R530-million, R41.8-million of this in the short term and R487.8-million in the medium term.
In Nelson Mandela Bay the metro’s two water sources in Kouga and Koukamma are very low.
Jameson Dam in Kouga is at 10% and Settlers Dam in Koukamma at 19%.
Sarah Baartman’s average dam level is at 22.8% with the lowest at 10%.
Amathole dams are at an average of 77% with the lowest level being Butterworth’s Xilinxa Dam at 8.2%.
Bonkolo Dam in Chris Hani DM’s Komani is at 15% and Chiapinnisklip Dam in Burgersdorp in Joe Gqabi is at 5%.
The report said a provincial drought technical team had been established and a water management plan was being developed with the help of the Department of Water and Sanitation.
Some of the challenges highlighted in the report are non-adherence to drought mitigation strategies and dilapidated infrastructure.
Speaking to the Daily Dispatch yesterday, Cogta MEC Fikile Xasa said a ministerial task team had been formulated to come up with solutions.
He said the task team would be coordinated nationally and would focus on the specified areas.
Xasa said he would visit the most affected areas and would call for a provincial water forum to share experiences.
Parliament’s water and sanitation portfolio committee chairman Mlungisi Johnson said the briefing was to try and find solutions to the drought facing some parts of the country.
He said South Africa had 3 000km of coastline, with almost endless water, but it needed to be extracted for human consumption through desalination.
He said this could be very expensive. Boreholes and recycling waste water were also solutions that had to be looked at, he added.
The report recommended the development and implementation of a provincial water management plan.
It also recommended that financial assistance be made available, both from national and provincial government, to address the short- and medium-term challenges of drought. —