Saving water is urgent
Makana Municipality has officially declared a state of disaster due to dwindling dam levels following the drought conditions that are causing concern throughout most parts of the country. In Makana, the situation is dire and could lead to severe water outages if decisive action is not taken soon.
The municipality has responded to this challenge by enforcing water restrictions in partnership with the Department of Water Affairs. Other challenges that contribute to the lack of water include old infrastructure and the growing demand for water due to the increasing housing developments, particularly in Grahamstown East. There are too many leakages due to old infrastructure that cannot be fixed due to lack of funds.
The municipality has recently noticed that the Settlers Dam, which is the main supply for Grahamstown West, is critically low, to a level that causes concern, at 29 percent. Not all of this is useable, however, because of sediment build-up. The Howison's Poort dam, which is much smaller, is currently sitting at 76 percent.
The 4 May Council meeting invoked Disaster Status because of the low water supply. The Disaster Management Act allows for a local authority to declare that they cannot cope with their resources and the Act allows for funds to be re-prioritised due to state of disaster.
Emergency planning meetings have also been held to review the situation. Municipal officials, together with other stakeholders including the Eastern Cape Department of Water Affairs, Rhodes University and Amatola Water, decided to re-impose the existing February 2016 water restrictions and other means of saving water.
It is very important that citizens abide by the water restrictions imposed, as there is only about 90 days’ worth of water supply remaining for the Western side if the situation continues at the current rate. At current consumption rates, we are looking at two to three months’ supply unless citizens abide by the restrictions or there are prolonged heavy rains, which are not forecast any time soon. The municipality notes with concern that some residents are still watering their gardens and that car washers are still using hose pipes. This is an urgent plea to citizens to save water as much as they can. People are also advised to invest in water tanks for rain water harvesting.
Residents are also urged to report non-compliant users.