Visitors place strain on EC supply

Drought continues as holidaymakers flock to the province for the summer

An influx of holiday makers is placing severe strain on the drought-stricken province.

The high demand for water is impacting negatively on water levels, said Amatola Water spokesperson Nosisa Sogayise.

She said the festive season had seen demand overtake supply. People had to use water sparingly, she added.

Sogayise said the problem of dilapidated water infrastructure across the province was a contributing factor in the failure to provide sufficient supply of water to communities.

The spokesperson on Friday urged communities to be “patient as Amatola Water spends a lot of its finances on infrastructure repairs”.

She said this was despite the fact that the board was struggling to recover debt from some of its clients.

Sogayise revealed that “an unfortunate pipeline burst” on the Rooikrantz raw water pipeline last weekend had led to a two-day water outage for households and businesses in the King William’s Town and Bhisho area.

Provincial dam levels declined from 61.3% last week to 60.9% this week, according to the department of water and sanitation (DWS).

DWS spokesperson Sputnik Ratau said despite the good rainfall over the past weekend in most parts of the Eastern Cape, dam levels remained at a concerning low.

He said affected areas consisted of the drought-stricken Nelson Mandela Bay Metro, and the Sarah Baartman, Chris Hani, Amathole and Joe Gqabi district municipalities.

Last week it was reported that areas around the Great Kei Municipality were left with only enough water to last them for a few days.

On Friday, acting Amathole District Municipality spokesperson Noni Vuso said water was still being pumped to the area from Morgan Bay. Water rationing was still in place. Vuso said things were expected to get better in the next week as a borehole transformer had been changed.

“Fresh water supply is only expected to come on line as of Monday.

“What will bring water supply back to normal is sufficient rain that can increase the dam levels.”

Pictures: SIBONGILE NGALWA DRY: Taps have run dry in Kei Mouth and The Thatches Holiday Accommodation had to buy tanks to keep the business going as they expect an influx of holidaymakers into the small town. A sign notifies guests of the water shortage in Kei Mouth.