Water woes lessen with dam report

Average levels up except for Nelson Mandela Bay

IT WAS good news for some drought-affected residents in the Eastern Cape with the release of the department of water and sanitation’s latest dam level report.

The Amatola Water System, which serves the Buffalo City Metro, has seen average dam levels increase by 21.2% from this time last year with most of its dams almost full.

Department spokesman Sputnik Ratau said: “On average, Eastern Cape dams have consistently improved following the rains that fell in the past weeks. Most dams in the eastern part of the province have improved as the Amathole Water Supply System is now at 92.2% compared to 71% at this time in 2017.

“The Xilinxa Dam [which serves Gcuwa] also showed a great improvement at 60.8% compared to 3.6% at the same time last year.”

Residents of Nelson Mandela Bay Metro and surrounding areas are not so lucky with Ratau saying that the low dam levels in the area are threatening water and food security.

AgriEC chairman, Douglas Stern, said that he certainly agrees with this sentiment and specifically pointed to the communities which were supplied by and relied on the Kouga Dam with vegetable farmers in the area having already been forced to scale down their operations due to drought.

He said that while the farming community in the Kouga area was hoping for rain, the catchment area which supplied them was not particularly known for winter rainfall.

“Nelson Mandela Bay has been badly affected by drought which has negatively impacted on the dam levels. The dam levels in Nelson Mandela Bay and surrounding areas are very low,” said Ratau.

“The department of water and sanitation is concerned about the low dam levels in Nelson Mandela Bay. The department will continue to monitor dam levels in the province to improve water security.”