Makhanda taps run dry as water crisis deepens

Most of Makhanda (Grahamstown) has been without water since Sunday.

It is one of several prolonged water outages that the roughly 70,000 residents have suffered over the festive season – including over Christmas – as a result of ageing infrastructure and years of maintenance neglect on the part of the Makana municipality.

To make matters worse for residents, Settlers and Howieson’s Poort dams – which supply the western half of Makhanda – are almost empty.

Residents have been warned that unless it rains or residents dramatically cut back on usage, supply may run out as soon as mid-February.

No significant rainfall is forecast between now and mid-February.

Much of the water is also lost to leaks between the holding reservoirs and the city.

The Grahamstown Residents’ Association has warned on its website that water rationing may soon have to be enforced.

In theory, the eastern part of Makhanda has a plentiful supply of raw water from the Orange River Scheme.

But, in reality, the Makana municipality only has the capacity to purify a fraction of the water needed daily by residents in Makhanda east, leading to the municipality rationing water at night.

This capacity was recently halved when one of the pumps at the James Kleynhans (JK) pumping station failed.

The association said the

Residents have been warned that unless it rains, or they cut usage, supply may run out as soon as mid-February

municipality had informed it that the second pump would come back online on January 21 – with a third to be installed as backup.

It said the connection from east to west had also been upgraded so it could, in theory at least, supply both sides of the city.

But, this was again limited by its capacity to purify and pump the water.

“Funding has been approved to double the capacity of JK but has not yet been formally budgeted [for] so the es- timated completion [of that project is only] 2021.”

Meanwhile, Rhodes University has denied rumours on social media that it might reconsider opening in early February as a result of the water crisis.

Rhodes spokesperson Veliswa Mhlope said the university’s finance and infrastructure director, Iain L’Ange, rejected claims that the university’s doors would remain closed in the face of the looming water disaster faced by the city.

“There are various consultations taking place with the municipality and the various stakeholders and a more detailed statement will be issued as soon as more information becomes available,” she said.

The latest water outage was caused by a massive burst pipe at one of the highest points above the city.

Once it had repaired the main leak, the municipality indicated via message boards and social media that it had discovered a secondary leak below the main pipe.

Staff worked all through Monday night to repair it.

Water once again flowed into people’s taps on Tuesday at about mid-morning but with reduced pressure. –