Every cent of relief funds must count

Drought relief to the tune of R1.2bn for the Eastern Cape from national Treasury will go some way to providing alleviation in many areas of the province which have been hit severely by water scarcity. What is needed now, however, is a commitment by local authorities that the funds will be channelled into projects and infrastructure where they can be most effective in preventing the critical scenarios that have developed, often through a litany of maladministration, inaction and blundering.

The good news is that in Nelson Mandela Bay – which will receive a sizeable chunk of R233m – R212m will go to the Coega Kop Wellfield borehole project and R20m for the optimisation of reservoir control valves. A water treatment plant for borehole water will also be built.

These are concrete steps following a precarious period when leaks due to ageing and poorly maintained infrastructure played havoc with water-saving efforts.

At the height of the drought crisis in 2018 when the metro’s supply dams levels plummeted to an average of 17%, there were still serious leaks being reported across the city with an understaffed municipality unable to keep up with repairs. But since the drought about 6,000m of ageing infrastructure has been replaced, along with more than 20,000 water meters.

The drought has inadvertently had a positive spin-off in that with the increased awareness, more leaks are now being reported and water loss has dropped by 5%.

This is an encouraging turnaround. Water-wise campaigns carry little weight when residents do not see any action being taken to remedy the leaks they are reporting.

We have learnt some hard lessons about our waterscarce province because of the protracted dearth of good rains which has been a wake-up call to authorities and ordinary citizens alike.

Every cent of the disaster relief money – just like every drop of water – must count going forward.