The Department of Water and Sanitation is rolling out several interventions to assist the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality to avert taps from completely drying out due to ongoing drought effects, which have resulted in severe water shortages.
The department said the interventions include the completion of the refurbishment of the Olifantskop Reservoir, which will augment water to the metro by 45 megalitres per day.
“Other water infrastructure upgrades include those taking place at the Motherwell and Stanford Road pump stations to increase to a transfer capacity of 120 megalitres per day and 135 megalitres per day respectively.
“The Motherwell Pump Station has a transfer capacity of 90 Mℓ/day, whilst the Stanford Road pump station is limited to around 90 Mℓ/day due to 500mm and 700mm diameter pipelines,” the department said.
The department said upgrades at the pump stations are done to supplement the additional available water drawn from the Gariep Dam in the Free State, through the Nooitgedacht Water Scheme and transferred to the metro’s western supply zones.
According to a weekly status of dam levels report issued by the department in the Eastern Cape, this week, dam levels remain at 14.9% from 14.8% recorded in the previous week.
Groendal Dam on the Swartkops River has recorded 20.9% from last week’s 21.0%, whilst Kouga Dam, which supplies water to the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro, remains unchanged at a low 16.5%. This time last year, Kouga Dam stood at 4.0%.
“Loerie Dam on the Loerie Spruit River has slightly increased from last week’s 46.1% to 51.1% this week. Impofu Dam is at 10.1%, Nqweba Dam has lowered at 5.9% and Nuwejaars Dam has also declined to 4.0%,” the department said.
The department has since reiterated its appeal to residents to use water sparingly and utilise 50 litres per person per day.
“The metro’s dam levels continue to decline on a weekly basis, despite some light showers experienced in parts of the metro sometime last week,” said the department.
Maintenance operations scheduled in the city
Meanwhile, Nelson Mandela Bay Metro has this week scheduled several maintenance operations in various parts of the city in a bid to reduce water losses.
The department said the planned maintenance includes a complete shutdown of water supply in Cotswold, Burt Drive - Ward 12 on Tuesday, 26 July; Kini Bay - Ward 40 on Wednesday, 27 July, and Kwaford Village – Wards 14, 17 and 18 on Thursday, 28 July 2022.
“Water supply will be shut off between 8am and 5pm, as and when operations on the infrastructure take place,” the department said. – SAnews.gov.za
