SOS! Nelson Mandela Bay is running out of water

Within two months, nearly half of Nelson Mandela Bay will be without water.

Despite the weekend rains, little fell over the metro’s western water catchment areas, sparking renewed calls for residents and businesses to radically reduce consumption.

Bay engineering and infrastructure head Joseph Tsatsire warned on Sunday that both time and water were running drastically low.

“Our western local dams Churchill, Impofu and Loerie-Kouga combined supply about 40% of the city.

“We have already depleted our department of water and sanitation allocation for the Kouga Dam for the year ending in June, so all the water left for us in that system is already in the Loerie.

“This water will run dry first,” he said.

“And then, as the other two dams deplete, more parts of the 40% zone of the Bay reliant on these dams will be affected.”

Unless significant rainfall occurred now, or consumption was urgently and drastically cut, the taps would run dry.

“When Churchill and Impofu run dry, Loerie will already have been depleted,” Tsatsire said.

“The maximum time we have is two months.”

Areas that are reliant on the western dams include: Schoenmakerskop, Sardinia Bay, Summerstrand, Humewood, Walmer, North End, Korsten, Neave Industrial, Rocklands, New Brighton, Kwazakhele, Newton Park, Fairview, Bay West, Parson’s Vlei, Greenbushes, Wedgewood, Colleen Glen, Clarendon Marine, Beachview and Blue Horizon Bay.

Tsatsire said the high-lying section of the Kariega township of KwaNobuhle also fell in this zone.

“Work is under way on the KwaNobuhle Pump Station to move Nooitgedacht water brought into the Chelsea Reservoir up to this section of the township, but this work will only be completed around August /September.”

He said the Bay’s water treatment and supply system was currently “operating without redundancy”.

“That means we are operating without extra capacity — there is no safety factor — and this causes operational failures. 

“Pipes bursting and pumps failing are some risks associated with over-working the system.”

Tsatsire said this was why a suburb like Lorraine, for example, was already suffering regular water outages.

“Lorraine and other western areas are experiencing disruptions due to operational risks associated with pump station failures, electricity failures and pipes bursting.

“These suburbs only get water from one system so all their eggs are in one basket and these events constrain the system still further.”

The news comes as it emerged last week that the city was considering scheduled water cuts as an interim measure to stave off the looming day zero.

The city was, however, not ready to share the details with the public, saying it was was developing a plan which included risk analysis, benefits and risk-mitigation plans.

According to a presentation by the metro to the Bay business chamber, besides the 40% of the metro totally reliant on the dams, there is a further 40% of the metro including Theescombe, Lorraine, Sherwood, Sunridge Park, Westering, Malabar, Gelvandale, Algoa Park, Missionvale and Zwide which relies partly on this source of water.

Tsatsire said these suburbs had been switched to allow for supply from Nooitgedacht so they would have water if the dams failed.

“But if the dams fail and flexibility is lost once again there will be risk.

“Supply will probably be intermittent related to operational problems in the Nooitgedacht system.”

On Friday, the combined level of Nelson Mandela Bay’s four western dams in the Kromme and Kouga river catchments was 13.47%, with the Churchill at 15.6%, Impofu at 11.01%, Kouga at 13.35% and Groendal at 23.72%.

In terms of quotas overseen by the department of water and sanitation, the supply from the Kouga dam is primarily for the citrus and vegetable farms in the Gamtoos River Valley and the Kouga Municipality towns of Jeffreys Bay, Hankey and Patensie.

SA Weather Service regional spokesperson and host of the Weather Guru site Garth Sampson said on Sunday morning that while the Bay had received some rain at the weekend, little had fallen in the western catchment, and predictions for improvement were not good.

“Rain for the weekend for Gqeberha was 8mm to 22mm and for the dams 3mm to 6mm.

“Furthermore, the week’s forecast is not promising and the seasonal forecast until at least August looks dismal.”

He said there seemed to be little awareness around the Bay of how serious the situation was, but life would be a nightmare for those communities that ran out of water.

“If you don’t have an alternative source, just the simple things like going to the toilet and taking a shower will become difficult.”

He said one of the reasons water consumption was not dropping was likely the large volumes supplied to indigent communities for free.

“If you don’t pay for it you’re not going to take care of it.

“We have to focus on that situation and manage that supply better,” Sampson said.

He said Bay politicians needed to do more to communicate the urgency of the situation to the public.

“They need to be walking the streets.”

Business chamber chief executive Denise van Huyssteen said last week it was becoming increasingly clear that moving water from the Nooitgedacht scheme across the city was wholly reliant on pump station operations.

“However, the drought has pushed operations to its limits so now we have a situation where standby pumps are in use as duty pumps.

“In recent months, there have been several failures in pump station infrastructure and outages are therefore now more likely as the system has been under severe strain for months,” she said

“When the dams run dry, many reservoirs will naturally be starved of water due to the high demand and will need to be shut down.

“With demand remaining around 280 megalitres per day, dry taps are inevitable as both the Kouga and Kromme systems serving the metro will run dry.”

Van Huyssteen said because of pump station failures which had since December become a common occurrence, the metro had not easily been able to balance the system with an alternative supply as it had in the past.

“Urgent refurbishment work is required at some of the critical pump stations, and procurement efforts must be intensified.

“It is critical that the dam capacity be stretched to the end of June, when the KwaNobuhle Pump Station will be able to pump Nooitgedacht water to KwaNobuhle and other western areas.”

She said it was clear that water consumption had to be drastically and urgently reduced.

“Consumption has remained consistently high over the past few months and has not come down despite numerous requests for residents and businesses to save water.

“Daily consumption levels have been tracking at 280 megalitres a day but this needs to reduce to 230ML/d even after the pump station work is complete.

“There will be only 230ML/d available until such time that rain replenishes local dams.”

She said the water supply crisis posed a serious threat to the already vulnerable sewage management system in the Bay.

“From the end of May, potentially 40% less water will go into the sewage treatment works thus creating a high risk of blockages occurring.

“This, in turn, may pose various health risks for communities.”

Van Huyssteen said should no significant rains fall between now and the end of May, the repercussions for businesses and communities would be severe.

“As part of mitigation efforts, we strongly appeal to all businesses and residents to immediately, drastically reduce their consumption levels. 

“Allied to this, all potential alternatives should be adopted wherever possible such as rain water harvesting and water recycling, and installing water restrictors.”

She said there was little visible awareness around the metro relating to the seriousness of the water crisis. 

“Shopping centres, restaurants and other public amenities do not appear to be actively driving water saving messages and measures.

“It is vital that we all play our part in dramatically driving down our water consumption levels so that we can mitigate the risks associated with the current very concerning state of affairs.”

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