BELOW average rainfall during the past 15 months has resulted in a situation where water levels have fallen sharply, causing water shortages to occur in some areas of KwaZulu-Natal.
KZN Agricultural Union president, Michael Black, said even though there had recently been rains in the province, they were not widespread.
“In some areas there was just 25mm of rain which did not have a substantial effect,” said Mr Black
“We are doing a survey to see how bad the situation is. We will just have to conserve water as best as possible,” he said.
Umgeni Water has urged consumers to use water sparingly as the province is facing drought-like conditions.
“The situation is not too good,” said Shami Harichunder, of Umgeni Water. “Our climatologist has told us that if we do not experience rainfall by January next year, the water supplies we have will run dry,” he said.
He explained that low rainfall levels coupled with high temperatures and high levels of evaporation had exacerbated the problem.
He said the Umgeni system, which services parts of Ugu and Durban and Pietermaritzburg, was the only one not in crisis at this point.
He did, however, say that the mid-South Coast was currently facing a crisis with the dams in its Umzinto system; Umzinto Dam, EJ Smith Dam and Nugwane Dam running dry.
“They are all sitting at between 11 and 31 percent at the moment. There is not enough water to extract and treat,” he said.
Operational meteorologists in South Africa have predicted that the trend of low rainfall experienced thus far is likely to continue until January 2015, through the spring and early summer months, when the highest rainfall usually occurs in KZN.
Umgeni Water and Ugu municipality are working closely in creating awareness among consumers, in the imposition of water conservation measures and in the development of contingency measures to deal with the deteriorating situation.
