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21 JANUARY 2019

BACKGROUND

Makhanda local municipality, like the rest of the country is experiencing severe drought conditions.

Makhanda uses 18 mega litres of water per day equivalent to 180 litres per day per person.  We intend to limit the usage to 50 litres per person per day immediately effect.

The reason is because Settlers Dam which supplies the western part of the town has dwindled to 13% while Howiesons Poort Dam has only 23% of water left.  There will be no water left in this system in the next 30 days if there is no rainfall.

The entire municipality will have to rely on James Kleynhans Dam which supplies the eastern part of the town.  Supply will be restored to 10 mega litre per day for the entire municipality.

Our Engineers are currently reconfiguring the water system to ensure sharing of the water source with the west, once Settlers Dam becomes unviable.

Rationing the Water Supply   

Rationing will result in some parts of the city being shutdown completely as pressure drops across the city.

At this point water distribution points will be established. Manual distribution will take place.

A shutdown schedule will be made available by 25 January 2019 to help residents and businesses to plan around the outages.

Residents will be able to collect their ration of 25 litres of water per household at these collection points.

Water will be delivered to Hospitals, Old Age homes, Clinics and Schools.

Those who have the resources to harvest rain water are encouraged to do so, as this will alienate the pressure on the municipal supply.

STOCKPILING MUNICIPAL SUPPLY FOR PRIVATE USE IS ILLEGAL AND ALSO UNFAIR TO OTHER RESIDENTS.

WHAT IS THE LONG TERM PLAN?

The plan is to increase the capacity of the James Kleynhans Dam in order to meet the city’s needs by drawing water from Orange River and Fish River.

The plan is to double the existing capacity of this dam from 10 mega litres to 20 mega litres.

This upgrade will approximately cost R170m and will only be completed in (June 2021).

We work with the National Department of Water and Sanitation, Corporative Governance and Municipal Infrastructure Support Agency (MISA) to implement this plan in Joc.

If we manage our water rations and infrastructure well, it is unlikely that water will dry up completely.

We call on residents to embark on water saving strategies by recycling water usage.

Saving Water

We encourage residents to harvest grey water from their sinks and baths and re-use it to flush the cistern and water their gardens.

For further details and enquiries please contact Communication Officer, Yoliswa Ramokolo @ 046 – 603 6152/16 Cell: 078 550 2707 or yramokolo@makana.gov.za or Anele Mjekula @ 046 – 603 6181 amjekula@makana.gov.za