Naziziphiwo Buso
Nelson Mandela Bay Mayor, Retief Odendaal says the majority of Nelson Mandela Bay pools will not be open for public usage this festive season.
Odendaal, who was speaking at the nearly parched Impofu Dam, says the decision was taken in light of the vandalism of the pools and efforts of the city trying to save water.
Impofu, which supplies the city with 30% of its water is currently at a shocking 8%.
This week the municipality revealed that the metro’s main supply dams are sitting at 17.1% combined capacity, and usable water from that amount was mere 11.61 percent.
They further revealed that the city was consuming 50-60 more mega litres a day than the recommended 230 mega litres.
Speaking on strides taken by the municipality Odendaal says over 100ha of alien vegetation had been cleared which had been threatening water supplies and over 1 000 water leaks had been fixed.
As the festive season is approaching, he has cautioned residents to keep water consumption low and to follow the set restrictions as water consumption will be the on the rise.
“We are not going to be irresponsible over the holiday season, we don’t anticipate any outages because all of the remedial work and maintenance [will] be completed before the unofficial shutdown of the municipality.”
Meanwhile, director of water and sanitation Barry Martin, says the municipality is doing all it can to optimise water collection.
He says the metro has been experiencing a lot of green rain but not at catchment areas and should not be mixed up with water from the dams,
“I know people have drought fatigue but water must continue to be saved,” Martin added.
