LNW: This is why water supply is low
Lepelle Northern Water gives a thorough explanation regarding ongoing water challenges experienced in Polokwane and surrounding areas.
POLOKWANE – Frustration is mounting among residents in the city due to a constant lack of water supply and information in this regard.
Following numerous queries about a lack of water in certain suburbs, the Polokwane Municipality’s Spokesperson, Thipa Selala, referred Review to Lepelle Northern Water’s Media Liaison Officer, Yolande Nel for answers.
Nel says inherent challenges in the supply of water to Polokwane are generally brought about by high water demand, the need to upgrade the schemes servicing the city with an ever growing population, low dam levels and loadshedding issues.
“Current challenges in the provision of bulk water supply to Polokwane follows the aftermath of flooding at the Olifantspoort Scheme’s catchment area, which has resulted in poor raw water quality, making it complex to treat, which then affects the quality of water supplied by the plant,” she explained.
As a result of current flood conditions, Nel added that the scheme is only able to yield around 49Ml/d, instead of the usual 60Ml/d. “The situation, which is seasonal and expected during flood conditions, is expected to improve as the quality of the raw water improves.”
Over the weekend, operations at the Ebenezer Scheme were affected by electricity outages from the Greater Tzaneen Municipality. This, Nel says was impacted by wind due to trees falling onto power lines. “Until recently, Ebenezer dam levels have been very low and this played a role to date. The situation resulted in the Department of Water and Sanitation imposing a 20% restriction on Lepelle Northern Water’s extraction from this source, which has largely affected supply from the scheme,” she added.
Due to recent rain, dam levels have improved from 27.99% to 38.29%.
“While good rains have been experienced, restrictions are still in place. Due to low dam levels and restrictions, the scheme can supply only 35Ml/d instead of the 44Ml/d. Loadshedding further affects operations and production in general, as do pipe bursts that serve as other operational challenges experienced within both schemes. Pipe bursts due to ageing infrastructure are attended to as and when it occurs,” she said.
According to Nel, there has been an improvement since the completion of the first phase of the replacement of the Specon pipeline, which forms part of the Olifantspoort scheme, in November 2019.
“The second phase, constituting over 2km of pipeline, is due for completion in March 2021,” she concluded.
