AS KwaZulu-Natal squares up to the reality of the worst drought since the turn of the century, the FNB Dusi Canoe Marathon has thrown its weight behind the efforts by the region to manage its dwindling water resources optimally.
This week, Umgeni Water held high level meetings with representatives of the municipalities of uMgungundlovu, uMsunduzi and eThekwini to discuss options to try and reduce business and domestic water consumption by 15 per cent.
Umgeni Water spokesperson, Shami Harichunder, said that the dams in the uMngeni system were critically low and at their lowest levels in three decades, and warned that CSIR forecasts pointed to no significant rainfall for the next six months.
The FNB Dusi Canoe Marathon takes place on the uMsundusi and uMngeni Rivers from 18 to 20 February and the organisers and participants are facing up to the impact of the drought head-on.
“Yes, as paddlers, the effect of the low rivers will be felt during the race but we see this in the broader context of the serious water crisis that is facing the region and embrace it as a challenge,” said FNB Dusi general manager, Brett Austen Smith.
“We organise events on these rivers for just a handful of days a year but we have an obligation to consider those who rely on these river systems every day of their lives for drinking water, washing and cleaning, let alone the farmers who are battling to irrigate their crops and provide water and food for their livestock,” he added.
“We accept that the conditions will make the FNB Dusi hard this year, but then the Dusi has never been easy. It never pretends to be easy at all and is called the ‘ultimate canoe challenge’ for good reason,” said Brett. “Water is a precious resource and one that cannot be squandered. We fully understand this and we shoulder the responsibility, along with every other South African, of trying to address the crisis.
“As an event, we want to find a way that we can contribute positively and meaningfully to ease the hardship that this drought is causing. But we also want to explore ways that we can contribute towards dealing with the effects of this drought during the race,” said Brett.
In recent years, the race has been able to take advantage of water from the small Henley Dam outside Pietermaritzburg for the first two days of the race, but this dam, which usually fills quickly in the summer, is two-thirds full.
“The level of Henley Dam is currently 67 percent,” said Umgeni Water’s corporate stakeholder manager, Shami Harichunder, after meeting with the Dusi organisers to discuss the drought crisis.
“The water to be released from it would bolster the level of the uMsundusi River, thereby assisting canoeists. The amount to be released will be the same as last year,” added Harichunder.
Austen Smith said that they would cancel the planned release of water from Henley Dam for the pre-Dusi TWK Dash n Crash races on Saturday, 30 January to ensure that there was water to introduce into the river system during the Dusi.
Dam levels (as at 21 January):
Henley Dam – 68.86 percent
Albert Falls Dam – 37.59 percent
Nagle Dam – 85.85 percent
Inanda Dam – 80.35 percent
The FNB Dusi Canoe Marathon takes place from Camps Drift to Blue Lagoon from 18 to 20 February.
