File
Nelson Mandela Bay is potentially facing a humanitarian crisis where a serious water shortage and accompanying collapse of the sanitation system may lockdown more than a third of the Metro from the supply of critical water and sanitation services.
That is the dire warning from the CEO of the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber, Denise van Huyssteen.
"Parts of the city only have 42 days of water left and even more alarming, consumption across the Metro has not reduced from 280 ML to 230 ML per day to delay and potentially prevent this situation from happening," she said in a statement on Friday.
"When the overall dam levels reach around 10%, more than a third of the Metro is likely to have no water and along with this, there is the high possibility that the sewerage system will collapse," Van Huyssteen said.
She further emphasises that this will affect hospitals, businesses, restaurants, and residents in the affected areas.
"Many will not be able to use their toilets at home and or at work due to a water and sanitation lockdown. This is an emergency and to prevent this disaster from happening, we must radically reduce our water consumption levels now."
"If we don't save water, we will have a health crisis on our hands," she said.
On Friday, the Democratic Alliance also announced proposals that it said could help push back Day Zero, believed to be looming at the end of May if no significant rainfall occurs over the catchment area and residents don't reduce consumption.
Councillor Dries van der Westhuizen called for emergency measures to be introduced that will lead to a reduction in water consumption and increase supply through various interventions.
He also called for improved communication, with daily updates from the City, as well as transparency from the Municipality regarding the water crisis.
"We believe the only way of preventing the imminent disaster is to drastically reduce water demand from 280 Ml a day to 230 Ml a day. If we are able to reach this target, we should theoretically be able to stretch our remaining water supplies until the end of October," he said.
The total combined capacity of Nelson Mandela Bay's four supply dams, as of Friday, was at 13.24%, according to the Metro.
