Cape Town - The Western Cape
government on Monday said it will have spent close to R80 million on drought alleviation by March 2019.
This as the
average dam level in the Western Cape sits at 51% (2018: 26.5%) while dams that supply the City of Cape Town with water are currently at an average level of 62.6% (2018: 28.3%).
Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning MEC in the Western Cape,
Anton Bredell says the provincial government has been working nonstop over the past few weeks to tackle the issue of drought.
“We’ve faced some extreme situations over the past few months including the massive fires in the George area late last year. That was followed by the Wupperthal disaster and more recently the ongoing fires in the Overberg district.
In addition,
we’ve been dealing with an ongoing drought in the Karoo. The successes we’ve had to date,
can only be lain
at the door of the capacity we’ve built up in the Western Cape over the past ten years.
"When we started out in 2009 we had access to 6 helicopters and two spotter aircraft. We had zero runways to operate from. Today we have access to 30 aircraft including water bombers and 34 runways spread across the entire province. This is an example of the capacity building that is critical to enable a province to tackle the disasters we’ve been dealt,” he said.
Karoo drought:
The situation in the Karoo remains serious but we want to reiterate that to date no town has run out of drinking water. Over the past weekend there was a statement circulating stating that Kannaland municipality has run out of water. This is incorrect.
There was a short temporary technical challenge due to maintenance that had to be done on the town’s water treatment plant. That work was completed by Saturday evening thanks to the efforts from the provincial department of Local Government assisted by technicians from Oudtshoorn.
We want to reiterate our repeated request: Please contact the provincial government directly when concerned about water challenges. The province has multiple contingencies in place and is in charge of coordinating all relief efforts. We also want to urge relief agencies and others, who may be contacted for help, to also refer all calls relating to drought challenges to the province first. This has been the understanding with our partners and we would value such collaboration moving forward.
The Department of Local Government in the Western Cape is coordinating the relief efforts in Central Karoo. Some of the more recent ongoing interventions the province has initiated successfully includes:
By 31 March 2019 the department will have spent R78.2 million on drought alleviation projects around the entire province. This includes multiple boreholes that have been drilled and outfitted. Other projects include:
In Laingsburg: construction of a Bulk Pipeline between the Zoutkloof Spring and the main reservoir as well as the equipping and electricity connection and connection of two boreholes to the Zoutkloof line. In addition rehabilitation of the Zoutkloof spring remains ongoing. This work started in November 2018.
In Matjiesfontein: Installed a borehole pump and provided Eskom connection.
Assisting with the successful maintenance of the Water Reticulation plant in Beaufort West over the high demand New Year’s Weekend as well as coordinating the delivery of bottled water to multiple regions at times of high demand.
Deploying additional capacity in the form of engineers and Geohydrologists to the Central Karoo.
The department is working with other national and provincial stakeholders to identify and implement immediate, medium and long term solutions for sustainable water supply and management.
Overberg fire
Firefighters are still combating the wildfire that broke out in the Overstrand District Municipality on New Year’s Eve.
Bredell added: “The situation took a turn for the worse over the weekend and it was only due to incredible efforts once again by all the emergency services and in particular the fire fighting entities, that the losses weren’t much worse. Once more, I want to thank each and every individual and entity who assisted us. The efforts will continue until all the fires have been extinguished.”
Latest Dam levels as per Department of Water and Sanitation:
The average dam level in the Western Cape is 51% (2018: 26.5%). Dams that supply the City of Cape Town with water have an average level of 62.6% (2018: 28.3%). Picture: Supplied
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