Residents give water to help with crisis

A water crisis in the tourist town of Graaff-Reinet has seen residents start their own water collection initiative, while the municipality has resorted to serving the town with 20 boreholes.

As officials advised people to boil water before consumption, a group of residents took it upon themselves to supply hospitals and schools with clean water.

The group, called Giant Flag, secured the support of several businesses and recently managed to collect more than 1,000 litres of water for the Margery Parkes TB Hospital, churches and households.

A Facebook page, called “Graaff-Reinet Water Crisis”, has also been created, where anyone can donate or sponsor water.

Dr Beyers Naude local municipality councillor Samantha Graham said the Facebook page had been created after a number of people around the town got sick and complained of poor water quality.

“There are areas that still do not get water. The [municipal] boreholes are just not sufficient,” Graham said.

She claimed the municipality was sitting on a R30m drought relief budget that was not being used.

Officials said the money was being used to keep the 20 boreholes functional.

Dr Beyers Naude municipal spokesperson Wilca Smith said a broken pump station had been repaired and was functioning.

Smith denied there was a sewage spillage, despite a number of businesses complaining of a bad smell coming from the water.

She said it was important to note that because of the low pressure of the water, it took time for water to be pumped into the reservoirs, hence consumers experienced times when there was no water.

The Graaff-Reinet Tourism Bureau’s Nokuthula Mbaile described the situation as “a hell of a mess”.

“We were warned not to drink the water [or] brush our teeth and wash [with it].

“Every day the water is turned off after 7am and turned on again after 6pm,” Mbaile claimed.

DA MPL Vicky Knoetze claimed the Nqweba Dam was nearly empty, with just 1.6% capacity left.

“The collapsing infrastructure in the municipality is equally to blame,” Knoetze said.

“According to the 2017/2018 annual report, only 1% of the budget has been spent on the maintenance of infrastructure.”

Smith denied the claims by Knoetze, saying the municipality was on track with the expenditure of its infrastructure budget.