National interventions

A number of measures have been implemented nationally to address the situation and are bearing fruit.These include:

• The issuing of regular early warning messages.

• Drilling and equipping of boreholes across all provinces.

• The application of water restrictions to regulate the use of water.

• The provision of animal feed and fodder.

• Water tankering in areas of severe need.

• The promotion of the use of drought resistant cultivars.

• Reduction of water usage by industries and other users, such as crop farmers.

• Change of timing of cultivation and irrigation, etc.

• Desalination.

• Water conservation and demand management.

• Reuse optimisation.

In addition, R74.8 million was given to the Western Cape in August 2017 to deal with the situation.

The Minister said his department, through the National Disaster Management Centre, is currently in the process of considering requests from the Northern Cape and Eastern Cape for funding of response and recovery measures.

From reports received by the IMTT so far, there is an indication that the situation is deteriorating with dam levels falling week-on-week. Below are the readings of recent national dam levels.