Communities helping other communities
Capetonians are faced with a three-year-long drought with very little rain which fails to push up the dam levels.
Capetonians are faced with a three-year-long drought with very little rain which fails to push up the dam levels.
A statement was released stating that the Western Cape Government had released an extra R825 million to fight the drought but the threat of Day Zero still threatens the City.
According to News24, Day Zero is the day when City officials will be forced to cut off the normal water supply to 75% of the city’s homes, this is more than one million households.
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Instead, families and some commercial users will be forced to queue at 200 water collection points across the city to collect a daily allocation of 25 litres until water reserves are boosted. Authorities have said that the collection sites will likely be guarded by police or military personnel.
There is much speculation as to when Day Zero will actually happen but experts have said that it is forecast for May 11. Although the weather forecast predicted heavy rainfall for the area, this will unfortunately still not be enough to put the drought to sleep.
The Gift of the Givers is also assisting with the crisis, the organisation is the largest disaster response Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) of African origin on the African continent.
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The organisation has been assisting in fighting the drought since last year, with food parcels, boreholes being drilled in the Witperd area of Beaufort West providing 250 000 litres per day into the Gamka Dam pipeline.
The organisation was unable to assist with more information but five boreholes were drilled in the three additional boreholes in the Walker Dam area. These will add another 100 000 litres per day to the town.
Local organizations such as Women at Work International (WAWI), Horseshoe Masjid, Al Aashiqeen Masjid, Bosmont Community Patrol, Ma’WaalMasaakin, and the Bosmont Muslim School all contributed to fighting the drought with Gift of the Givers.
On Saturday, February 3, the organisations asked residents from the community to donate sealed bottled water for the people of Cape Town.
All the contributions that were collected were dropped off at the Bosmont Muslim School where the Gift of the Givers collected the bottled water.
“We would like to run this initiative until the crisis in Cape Town is resolved,” said coordinator of the project, Mariam Gillan.
