ANC dismisses DA water statement
Water Affairs has dismissed the DA statement that the sluice gates at the Hluhluwe Dam in KZN were open for over six days.
|||Durban - The Department of Water Affairs has dismissed a “factually incorrect” statement by the DA that the sluice gates at the Hluhluwe Dam were open for more than six days.
The statement, by Tarnia Baker, said millions of litres of water were being unnecessarily lost through the open sluices while the dam was at 20% of its capacity.
“It is shocking that while millions of South Africans are languishing without clean water, Minister Mokonyane’s department is allowing drinkable water to go to waste,” she said.
But on Wednesday Department of Water Affairs’ spokesman, Mlimandlela Ndamase, said: “The Hluhluwe Dam is a relatively small dam which does not have sluice gates as can be found in other major dams. Hluhluwe has several sleeve valves via which ‘raw water’ is released.”
He said the water was released into a pipeline to the water treatment plant as a priority and, when water was available, it was released for agricultural irrigation.
“The dam is currently at 21% and at no point has there been an unattended release outside of the standard operating procedures in place.
“The dam does not hold potable water and again the statements made by the DA are factually incorrect,” Ndamase said.
Daily News