Day Zero looms for Kouga as water resources run dry
THE Kouga Municipality could soon reach Day Zero as the combined level of Impofu Dam and Churchill Dam that supply water to the region in Jeffreys Bay, Humansdorp, St Francis Bay and Cape St Francis run low, totalling just more than 15% capacity last month.
Kouga Executive Mayor Horatio Hendricks said with the current weather forecast of no rain and the above average water consumption rate, there would be no supply of water from the dams within the next 30 days.
“The average water consumption across the region remains over 17 000Ml per day – as opposed to the ideal 9 000Ml per day.
“Residents are not heeding the call to reduce water consumption at all. We urge all businesses and residents to immediately reduce their consumption levels. It is of utmost importance that we drive down our water consumption levels in a bid to delay Day Zero,” said Hendricks.
Gamtoos Irrigation Board chief executive Rienette Colesky said businesses and residents in the area were concerned about the impact of the situation on their livelihoods. “We are in our seventh year of drought.
“We will not get a full quotation of water for the next water year, which will likely always influence our production of our agricultural uses and as well affect the residents whose livelihoods depend on agricultural production,” she said.
Department of Water and Sanitation
(DWS) Provincial Head in the Eastern Cape, Portia Makhanya, said there was sufficient ground water (GW) for Jeffrey's Bay and Humansdorp.
However, the presence of an iron and manganese content would have to be first removed.
“As an emergency route and/or permanent solution, we proposed that the municipality follows the same route as Ndlambe, by getting in a company like NuWater, which does Sea Water desalination at their own cost, operation and maintenance.
“We approached NuWater, who said that they can even put up plants for the GW, which will be much cheaper than Sea Water desalination. The municipality can then just pay them for the water. NuWater has an appointment with Kouga municipality to investigate.”