Nelson Mandela Bay Executive Mayor, Retief Odendaal has painted a grim picture of what the Metro will look like should the city's water supply run out by July, as earlier warned.
In a post on his Facebook page this weekend, Odendaal said when the dams reach a certain critical point nearly a third-quarter of the city's reticulation water system will stop.
"Nelson Mandela Bay is currently amidst one of the most serious droughts on record, and there is a possibility, a very real possibility, that our dams could run dry by July," he warned.
Odendaal also went on to describe what would happen when the dams are depleted and run dry.
"When the dams reach a certain critical point, water reticulation to reservoirs in nearly a third of the City will stop. The Metro will be forced to close all the valves to reservoirs and only allow water to be reticulated to the nearly built blue stand-pipes," he said.
Odendaal said residential consumers would have to queue for a daily allowance of water without having the option of collecting water for more than one day, or on behalf of any other adult."
The mayor says no businesses "in the affected zone" will be allowed to consume any municipal water.
"This will become the status-quo until there is rain and dam levels rise to acceptable levels, where the Metro is able to start pumping and reticulating water to all areas on a sustainable basis, and this could take months before the supply returns," Odendaal said.
The mayor warned that the impact of this on the City would be "devastating" and "decimate business and it is likely to destroy thousands of jobs."
Odendaal highlighted that another consequence of this would be that the city sewerage system is unlikely to function causing "massive sewer blockages that will be difficult to control."
Despite the gloomy outlook, Odendaal said the City can still prevent the taps from running dry by reducing consumption significantly. The City has been urging consumers to reduce consumption to 50l per person per day.
"We will be able to stretch our existing water sources until such time that we receive much-needed rain or all outstanding drought-mitigation projects are completed later this year. That is why we say save water now, or be prepared to queue for your water in the future."
