Nelson Mandela Bay Metro's mayoral committee would begin the process of applying for the metro to be declared a disaster area as dam levels continue to drop.
Speaking during a visit to the Churchill Dam (down to 27%) in Humansdorp on Tuesday, mayoral member, Councillor Annette Lovemore, said the committee would have their first meeting with the internal disaster management team on Wednesday.
The water levels of metro supply dams have now dropped to a combined 47% and according to Lovemore the Municipality could apply for the disaster declaration when the water level reaches 45%.
"In the last drought, 2010/2011, we waited until we got to 35% before we declared a disaster. One of the problems is, as I see it, is that the money came too late. We were given R1.6 billion as the result of the declaration of that disaster, she said.
Lovemore said that the R1.6 billion was for the building of the Nooitgedagt Water project, adding that "if we (had) got that money sooner we would have had Nooitgedagt in place and we would not actually be in the situation that we are in now."
Nelson Mandela Bay executive mayor, Athol Trollip, said they aren't just lamenting the fact there's no rain, he said they were also coming up with alternative ways to save water.
"We are drilling in the Coega area for subterranean water. We actually want to encourage people to come to those borehole sites and collect bulk water. We also looking at our municipal swimming pools, any pools that have got leaks we are closing them down," Trollip said.
"We are negotiating and exploring future installation of desalination plants, obviously we have to find budget for that," he added.
Meanwhile, Trollip said that the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality had identified ward 37, KwaDwesi and Arcardia, as the highest domestic water consumers.
He said the Metro had also identified particular households with high water consumption and the next step would be to visit those households to issue a warning to decrease water consumption within two weeks or action would be taken against them.
"We are going to communicate with them, we are going to explain to them that this is the situation and we will give them two weeks notice that if they don't radically adjust their usage we will insitute strong steps. They could be a whole range and we haven't decided yet. It could be a slowed down meter, shutting off meters, we could name and shame them," Trollip said.
(Pic: Supplied)
