The Department of Water and Sanitation said parts of the Eastern Cape continued to face acute water shortages with the capacity of storage dams dropping to 58.9% of capacity.
That’s according to a weekly report by the Department which said the drought was seriously affecting parts of the province like Nelson Mandela Bay, Chris Hani District and Amathole District.
“The current abnormal heat wave has increased evaporation rates and this is one of the reasons for the fall off in the storage capacity levels,” said Department spokesperson, Sputnik Ratau.
He said some dams such as Xilinxa at Amathole District was at 5.2%, Oxkraal dam in Sarah Baartman District is at 26.6%, Mlanga Dam in the OR Tambo District is at 6.5%, while Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality said on Wednesday that Kouga Dam was at 7.71% of capacity.
Ratau said the Department of Water and Sanitation was currently facing serious challenges which ageing and poor maintenance of infrastructure in some areas, water leaks, water pollution, illegal water connections and heat wave, etc.
“The Department appeals to communities to adhere to municipality restrictions in order to save water,” Ratau said.
