Drought crisis deepens

THE CHRIS Hani District Municipality (CHDM) has been declared a disaster area due to dire water shortages caused by drought.

Communications officer Lonwabo Kowa said all local municipalities under CHDM were currently facing water shortages and water restrictions had been introduced in Elliot, Dordrecht, Middelburg and Sada. “Declaring CHDM a disaster area implies that there will be reprioritisation of water services plans and funding and focus will now be on drought relief.”

Kowa said in doing so, council would seek approval from the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) for the reprioritisation of funding. “Moreover the council will continue to explore other funding sources for drought relief.”

Speaking during a special council meeting at the end of last year, CHDM executive mayor Mxolisi Koyo said the drought scourge not only affected water for human consumption but also agriculture.

“It is imperative that as the Council we act swiftly and do all that is humanly possible to save the situation. Our precious natural resources such as boreholes, springs, rivers and dams which are all subject to climate change conditions are all drying up.”

Kowa said a joint operations committee (JOC) had been established. He said the JOC consisted of stakeholders who would look at mitigating the consequences of the water scarcity plague. The JOC consists, among others, of rural development and agrarian reform and health departments and the SAPS.

In December CHDM was able to secure two water carts from the DWS to help transport water to areas which have no wa- ter resources left. “Currently the two trucks have been deployed to the Whittlesea area and Intsika Yethu. In total there are 87 water schemes which have shut down due to unavailability of water as a result of drought,” Kowa said