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The Department of Water and Sanitation says that Nelson Mandela Bay water system could get a welcome shot in the arm from water overflowing from the Gariep and Van Der Kloof Dams.
The Department has announced that transfers of water spilling from these two dams is continuing through the 82-kilometre-long Orange Fish Tunnel, built to divert water from the Orange River all the way to Port Elizabeth.
According to Wikipedia, the tunnel is the longest continuous enclosed aqueduct in the southern hemisphere.
Spokesperson, Sputnik Ratau, says the Department will monitor the impact that this water is expected to have on the Algoa Water Supply System which is at a lowly 18.6%.
"One of the major dams in the Algoa Water Supply System, Kouga Dam is struggling at 8%, a drop from 8.4%. other dams in the system such as Impofu (17%), Kromriver (50.5%), Loerie (68.6%) and Groendal (39.2%) are all declining week on week."
Ratau says the Eastern Cape Province continues to experience below-normal rain, even at the height of tropical cyclone Eloise that swelled most dams and water streams in some parts of the country.
PE weather office spokesperson Garth Sampson reports that after a disastrously dry January, the start of February has been equally dry in Nelson Mandela Bay.
Sampson says that if the City does not receive around 10 mm before the end of the month, Port Elizabeth Airport would experience the driest combined figure for January and February on record, which is from 1900 to 2021.
The PE Airport only received 11 mm of rain in January, and to date, it has measured a mere 2mm so far in February.
