The Department of Water and Sanitation would like to rectify the facts on the work that has been done within the Setsoto Local Municipality since the protest march that led to the death of Mr Andries Tatane back in 2011.
The then Department of Water Affairs together with the Free State Provincial Government established a task team to deal mainly with the water situation at that time. The municipality and the department provided water tankers whilst the engineers and technicians were busy trying to come up with long term solutions.
Further, the Department of Water and Sanitation and COGTA assisted with the upgrading of the Water Treatment Works (WTW) in Ficksburg through the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) programme, the construction of a dedicated pipeline from the Water Treatment Works (WTW) to Meqheleng Reservoirs. There was also the construction of a 10 Ml reservoir in Ficksburg (Imperani-Mountain). All these projects were successfully completed and both the communities of Ficksburg and Meqheleng benefitted.
The Department of Water & Sanitation is currently assisting the municipality with the construction of a pipeline from Caledon River to Meulspruit Dam and the upgrading of the pipeline from Caledon River to Clocolan and Marquard pipeline. This initiative will further be extended to upgrade the pipeline from Meulspruit to Ficksburg Water Treatment Works. There will also be an upgrade of the abstraction point feeding the Ficksburg Water Treatment Works to a 32 Ml size as per WTW design.
The current situation regarding the drought affecting the municipality, water is being supplied to communities by means of water trucks. Communities are also being engaged through the conducting of awareness campaigns and updates on the status of water supply to the community on a weekly basis via local radio stations. The municipality is busy with valve management and rationing of water during certain times at the three towns of Ficksburg, Clocolan and Marquard. Senekal is still in a better situation as there is still water in dams though it is not enough for the full winter season.
Both the municipality and the Department of Water and Sanitation are closely monitoring the dam levels in Senekal to ensure that proper interventions are implemented on time if the situation becomes worse.
For more enquiries contact:
Sputnik Ratau
Cell: 082 874 2942
