Billboard bid to help save water

● Bay unveils information plan to survive drought

The worsening water crunch has sent Nelson Mandela Bay officials scrambling to come up with innovative ways to conserve water, with the latest initiative – water consumption information billboards – unveiled on Monday.

In bleak news, the municipality said no significant rainfall has been predicted for the catchment areas for the next six months.

This comes as the average major storage dam level has dropped to 18.23%.

The municipality said it had sent out numerous urgent appeals to residents to lower water consumption.

It had also installed more than 275 water restrictors to households that were guzzling more water than prescribed.

The water consumption information billboards come as one of the main water supply dams, the Kouga Dam, dipped to a critical level of just 6.8%, the lowest level of all the dams.

At 96%, the Loerie Dam was the fullest.

However, the municipality cautioned: “Please note that although the level of the Loerie Dam has increased, it is a small balancing dam and, unfortunately, does not change the water disaster situation Nelson Mandela Bay is in.”

The level of the Churchill Dam was 15.9%, Impofu 28.4% and Groendal 39%.

Municipal spokesperson Mthubanzi Mniki said the aim of the billboards – which are in the process of being installed all over the metro – was to actively inform residents of their water consumption.

The billboards would be updated on a monthly basis.

Also available to all residents would be practical advice on how to decrease consumption – especially critical in high-consumption zones.

One of the first billboards has been put up in Gelvandale.

“Residents will be able to see the water consumption patterns in their wards and be inspired to try and save even more water,” Mniki said.

Mayoral committee member for infrastructure and engineering Masixole Zinto said: “We want all residents to continue with their water-saving efforts, as water saving is a shared responsibility.

“We want to encourage a culture of working together as a ward and advising each other about water-saving methods.

“The battle against the drought and the water shortage we can never win by ourselves as a municipality.

“Community members, right there in the wards where they stay, must also make a difference. And their efforts must not end at home.

“They also need to take their water-saving methods to their workplaces.”

Zinto said the campaign was one of the latest in a number of water-saving initiatives by the municipality, “given the desperate water crisis Nelson Mandela Bay is facing”.

He said SA Weather Service forecasts did not indicate significant rains in the catchment areas in the next six months.

The water consumption information billboards are expected to be placed at intersections at major access roads leading to the different wards.

The municipality urged residents to keep in mind the limit of 50l of water a person a day.