Water restrictions to start next week

IN a move described as ‘long overdue’, the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWA) has demanded cuts in water usage across the region, starting on 1 February with ‘Level 1’ (10%) restrictions.

And they have call this a ‘dress rehearsal ‘ for the beginning of May – the start of what threatens to be a long, dry period not seen since the grim drought 1993 when ‘Level 3’ measures were introduced, ‘unless there is some drastic change in weather patterns’.

Speaking at a crisis meeting at the Richards Bay Civic Centre on Tuesday, senior DWA officials spelt out in no uncertain terms that they would enforce compliance through penalties or cutting off supplies where necessary, if desired savings were not achieved.

This referred in particular to users whose source of water was the Mhlathuze river.

With effect from next month, the agricultural sector – the largest user of water – has to cut its water usage by half, while urban and household users will face a 10% reduction and industry and commerce a compulsory 5% saving.

Seen in the context of low and steadily dropping levels of the Goedertrouw Dam , the more than 50 attendees from industry, local government, agriculture and business were told ‘every week without rainfall makes the situation worse, and any delay will mean the restriction measures will get worse’.

The Department said the drought ironically brought with it benefits, as municipalities could apply for access to R375-million in funding provided by Cogta for drought assistance.

‘You can use this situation to your benefit, to attract resources and funding,’ said Jay Reddy, DWA Director: Institutional Management.

‘When we do have good rains, we need to capture as much as possible to fill our lakes. So if you need to upgrade your pump capacity, here is the opportunity.’

Water tankers not the answer

The City of uMhlathuze has not been pumping water from Lake Mzingazi since levels became untenable and is being supplied via Mhlathuze Water from the Mhlathuze river.

The Goedertrouw (Phobane) Dam has been augmented from the Tugela since July last year to compensate for the low rainfall.

While it was acknowledged that worst-affected are the rural areas where local water sources have dried up, the Department decried the ‘quick fix’ use of water tankers, saying it ‘treated the symptom, not the problem’ as ‘water must still be drawn from somewhere’.

The meeting was urged by the agriculture sector to embark on a mass newspaper education campaign, to get across the seriousness of the situation and measures that should be taken, especially in rural areas worst affected by drought.

‘We need a change in mind-set as to how we view and use our water resource. Because of lack of monitoring and compliance, the system has been abused,’ said Norman Ward, DWA Chief Engineer, who chaired the meeting.

‘It is up to local government to put the limits in place and manage it on the ground.

‘The City, District, Mhlathuze Water, the agricultural sector and independent users must all get their users to save.

‘Two weeks after 1 February we will start monitoring the success and we expect a report back from all the sectors and institutions at our next meeting on 24 February, where a more manageable task team will be selected,’ said Ward

Losses from leaks and illegal extraction from rivers also came into the spotlight, as did the invasion of water-guzzling hyacinth on the Mhlathuze river.

The farming sector said they had the money and means to eradicate the hyacinth through the use of chemicals but could not get the green light from the Mhlathuze Water authority because of fears of contamination of the Mondi supply.

The Department promised to make a swift decision in that regard, stating that the hyacinth could potentially also result in a collapse of downstream dam walls.

The need for long-term solutions, including alternate water sources, was also deemed to be a priority issue and all municipalities will meet with the Department tomorrow (Friday) to discuss this as well as other disaster management strategies.

It was noted that the City of uMhlathuze had already started to introduce water saving measures late last year.