Water restrictions to be intensified
The Department of Water and Sanitation will continue with water restrictions across the country as the drought situation is far from over.
According to the weekly report by the department, the national storage is under increasing stress and shows a steady decline week on week.
The Bloemfontein System consisting of four dams serving mainly Mangaung has revised its water restrictions to 30% for domestic and 75% for irrigation from the Caledon which will be increased to 100% when transfers are made from Lesotho.
Orange River has applied restrictions of 10% for domestic and industry and 15% for irrigation. These restrictions are also applicable to transfer schemes from the Orange River.
Dams in KwaZulu-Natal remain dangerously low with Klipfontein at 12.5%, Hluhluwe at 17.7% and Goedertrouw at 17.7%. All these dams are declining slightly week on week. The current restrictions for Goedertrouw dam will remain at 15% industry, 40% domestic and 80% irrigation, but these restrictions might increase if the situation does not improve.
The Vaal River System serving mainly Gauteng, Sasol and Eskom has decreased by 0.3% to 53.1%. The Vaal Dam decreased to 32.5% a decrease of 0.7% week on week. Rand Water started on 6 September with the reduction of supplies to their major customers.
It will take a couple days before reaching the required 15% reduction. The City of Joburg also announced their revised restrictions on Monday and has established a task team to monitor implementation of the restrictions. The task team will meet every Monday.
The drought is far from over and even with normal rainy seasons, it will take a number of years for the system to stabilise. Therefore there is still a need to continue to intensify the enforcement of restrictions and to stretch the available water supplies.
For more information contact:
Sputnik Ratau
Cell: 082 874 2942
