Holiday water supply clamps

WATER restrictions have been imposed on towns along parts of the Eastern Cape coast, despite some supply dams in the area being more than half full.

In one hard-hit area, Oyster Bay, in the Kouga region, the more severe restriction of water-shedding could be introduced if residents, who have ignored appeals to cut their usage, do not start saving water.

On the Sunshine Coast, covering Port Alfred and surrounding towns – where thousands of holidaymakers have started to arrive – the Ndlambe Municipality has announced water restrictions to try to prevent supplies running out during the peak festive season.

Tourism head Sandy Birch said the holiday season this year was expected to be much busier than last year and the restrictions had been imposed as a precautionary measure.

She said almost all of the 95 establishments on the tourism body’s books were full. This excluded holiday house rentals.

Other small coastal towns along the Sunshine Coast have also been slapped with the water restrictions as a precautionary measure, according to municipality spokesman Khulukile Mbolekwa.

He said although some water sources were at between 75% and 95% full, the authority did not want potential water issues to spoil the festive season for holidaymakers.

The water restrictions could remain in place in the new year if much-needed rain did not fall soon.

Bans have been slapped on a wide range of activities, including the use of hose pipes to water gardens, fill swimming pools and wash cars.

Automatic urinal flushing systems in hotels and restaurants are also affected by the restrictions, as well as any form of tap irrigation.

Popular holiday destinations like Kenton-on-Sea, Bushman’s River, Kleine-

monde, Cannon Rocks, Boknes and the farming towns of Bathurst and Alexandria are included in the water restrictions.

“We want to prevent any water supply problems and even have teams ready to fix underground pipes if they break,” Mbolekwa said.

Coastal areas have been urged to cut down on water usage to avoid water-shedding.

Meanwhile, Kouga mayor Elza van Lingen said the water supply in Oyster Bay was not improving as residents were not cooperating with efforts to reduce usage.

“If the situation does not improve, we will have to implement water-shedding there,” she said.

The municipality had handed out posters in the area about the water situation and hoped it would not have to start watershedding over Christmas.

The Kouga Municipality receives the bulk of its water for domestic usage from the Nelson Mandela Bay metro.

Kouga imposed water restrictions and punitive tariffs after the metro sent out an instruction that water usage in the area needed to be cut by 15%.

At the start of this month, the Nelson Mandela Bay council approved the implementation of punitive water restrictions in the metro.

This means residents will have to pay more if they waste water.

Each household is allowed to use no more than 400 litres a day, but should aim for 250 litres.