RED ALERT: Paralysing water crisis

Polokwane faces a major water crisis and if it does not rain before August, the Flag Boshielo Dam, a major source of water for the city, will run totally dry. The level of the dam is currently at 27% and dropping at an alarming rate.
During an urgent media briefing on Tuesday, acting Executive Mayor Charles Molepo reported that the municipality received a drought warning notification from Lepelle Northern Water (LNW) on Friday about the raw water allocation from Flag Boshielo Dam by the Department of Water and Sanitation. “The drought situation within the catchment area is so severe that the dam level is dropping at a fast rate and unless critical measures are put in place, supply will unfortunately discontinue to the detriment of the communities,” Molepo said and added that the Flag Boshielo Dam has dropped tremendously and by the time of receiving the notification the level was at 27% and observed to be dropping fast. “The situation is that should it not rain by August 2016, the dam will be totally dry,” Molepo informed.
According to Molepo, LNW received a warning from the Department of Water and Sanitation about the reduction of raw water to the Olifantspoort Plant and Flag Boshielo Dam resulting in the reduction of potable supply to Polokwane Municipality. This has resulted in the production at Olifantspoort to go down drastically and the supply to Polokwane to drop as well. Currently Polokwane receives less water from the supply area and the reservoirs are starting to show signs of being negatively affected.
Molepo explained that the municipality is receiving water supply from the Ebenezer Dam as well and the restrictions would put all the sources supplying Polokwane under strain should communities not take the warning seriously. “Our current state of water storage across the municipality is estimated at between 25% and 70%, but generally there is a downward trend. Due to lack of rain, consumers are using more water than usual, particularly to water gardens in residential areas. This results in an unusual demand for water. Now with the restrictions in place, it would be difficult to fill water reservoirs faster than water flows out of them. Consequently, some of the reservoirs would become depleted to the extent that the water pressure is too low to provide water to higher lying areas and the same time we would struggle to get the water in the reservoirs back to an acceptable level due to the restrictions,” Molepo said.
Molepo said that he municipality together with LNW will implement and enforce further water restrictions and have put together technical committees to come up with a comprehensive plan to deal with the anticipated water shortage. The water restrictions will assist to curb the increased demand and over-usage of water by households and industries. “The joint plan will be communicated to the media and other stakeholders including our communities as soon as possible,” Molepo said.
As an immediate measure, the municipality will among others start with the reduction of flow to the low catchment areas and throttling of the system to allow reservoirs to not reduce levels drastically. The municipality will also enforce current water restrictions by issuing of spot fines to anyone who is found watering gardens and washing cars with hosepipes, even residents using bore holes. “We have also jointly put together a communications and marketing plan that will create awareness campaigns for our communities to adopt water conservation practices in their day to day lives. This campaign will be rolled out as soon as possible,” Molepo informed.
Molepo also appealed to residents who have own boreholes to understand that they too have to use water sparingly because the municipality also depends on underground water tables to augment supply to other residents.
“In order for us not to get to a point where we experience shortages, the municipality together with LNW hereby calls upon the public, business sector and our residents to take this warning serious by using water sparingly and adopt water conservation practices in their businesses and homes,” Molepo concluded.
On Tuesday, Matshidiso Mothapo, acting Communications and Marketing Manager of Polokwane Municipality reported that the levels of the new 50 and 30 mega litre reservoirs were at 70% and 63% respectively, while the level of the Potgieter Avenue reservoir was at 63% of capacity. The Seshego reservoir was at 25% and the reservoir in Extension 34 was also at 0%. The level of the old 30 mega litre reservoir was 61%. The flow from Ebenezer Dam and the Olifantspoort plant was 254 liters per second and 173 litres per second respectively.

Story and photos: BARRY VILJOEN
>>barryv.observer@gmail.com