Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality is currently facing one of the most severe droughts to date. Over recent months, we have received of the lowest level of rainfall in 20 years.
As of 23 October 2017, the combined dam levels averaged 30.18% of their available capacity.
The largest dam of the Algoa Water Supply System is Kouga Dam. This dam level is down to only 13.46% of its capacity currently. It is important to note that this dam serves Nelson Mandela Bay as well as the neighbouring Kouga municipality. It also supplies the agricultural sector in the Gamtoos valley.
Not only will communities be without water when this dam falls below its usable level, but economic consequences will be dire. This scenario is mere months away if no major rain event occurs in the respective catchment areas.
Recent positive events could have given consumers the perception that the water disaster situation has changed. These events include:
• Commissioning of Nooitgedagt Phase 2:
Even though Nelson Mandela Bay has increased the capacity of the Nooitgedagt system, it does not improve the water scarcity situation. This additional capacity came at a vital time, only filling the void created by the Churchill dam being virtually empty at 12% of its capacity. Abstraction of water from Churchill has had to be halted.
• Recent rain:
The effect of the recent rains can be seen in the percentage change in the dam levels in the first column in Table 1. We experienced good rain in the Loerie dam catchment which caused excitement for many. However, the Loerie Dam is a small balancing dam. Even when it is full it does not have the storage capacity to outlast the greater crisis. Its capacity is about 2% of that of the Kouga Dam.
The upward trend in water usage must be reversed, with urgency. There are, unfortunately, still in excess of 1500 households using more than 40 Kl water per month. The supply to these customers is being individually restricted. We need every household to revert, at the very least, to its water saving habits of May this year. Ideally, of course, even more water should be saved than was the case in May. Based on the available water in the dams currently, the Department of Water and Sanitation has decreased our supply by 25%. This is a dramatic increase from the 15% restriction to which we have been subject for the past 18 months. It is, however, necessary. Without significant rainfall, and runoff into the dams, the supply from our dams will run dry within 12 months. A statement will be released next week outlining the Metro’s infrastructural and operational pans, and announcing further water restrictions.
