Drought-stricken Little Karoo towns appeal for help
LAST week, the Kannaland Municipality in the Little Karoo approached disaster relief organisation Gift of the Givers for assistance after some towns said they had run out of water.
“On Thursday, we received another urgent request from Kannaland municipality, who advised us that many more areas in the Little Karoo are in a severe crisis and a visit to the areas will confirm the seriousness of the issue, as the residents want to voice their grievances,” said Gift of the Givers founder, Imtiaz Sooliman.
He added that they had already packed trucks with bottled water to deliver this week.
According to a Kannaland Municipality spokesperson, two areas were in crisis.
Municipal manager Reynold Stevens said: “Kannaland municipality is facing tremendous challenges regarding the provision of drinking water, due to the drought and extreme dry weather conditions.
“The communities of Calitzdorp and Zoar are at this stage worst affected by this situation, due to the drop in dam levels,” he said.
Stevens added that the municipality had initiated their disaster operations centre, which was currently running 24/7.
A few days ago, the municipality informed the residents of Zoar that the Tierkloofdam was empty and that their water would be shut down between 9pm and 5am to give the reservoirs sufficient time to fill.
Last Monday, the municipality had distributed water to some of the residents of Zoar.