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Four business owners who operate car washes in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro have been fined R1 500 each for using hose pipes on their premises.
The car washes were also operating illegally and their hose pipes and vacuum cleaners were confiscated.
As the city continues to battle one of its worst droughts in history, the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro Police are hard at work enforcing water restrictions.
On Tuesday they continued their inspections at a car wash on Military Road in Central where a business owner was also fined for selling borehole water.
In terms of Section 4 of the Water Services Act 108 (No 108 of 1997) and Clause 31 of the Water and Sanitation Bylaws, no use of municipal water supply is allowed to wash cars and the use of hose pipes is forbidden.
Meanwhile: The Department of Water and Sanitation in the Eastern Cape is calling on residents to adhere to water restrictions imposed by their local municipalities to ensure water security.
And in the face of a looming day zero in Nelson Mandela Bay, the Department has also recommended to the Municipality that severe restrictions of 40% be implemented in order to maintain the supply of water to affected communities.
Department's spokesperson Sputnik Ratau says the Nooitgedacht water scheme, which supplies water from the Orange Fish River system, currently supplies 210 ML/day to the Metro.
He says in a statement that the scheme was initially intended to supply water to the eastern side of Nelson Mandela Bay.
However, through collaborative efforts aimed at ensuring that the western side of the Metro does not dry out, 90 ML/day is being pumped through to the western side, with the aim to increase to 120 ML/ day.
