The Department of Water and Sanitation has spent R500 million on emergency and short term interventions to mitigate the effects of the drought in drought-stricken provinces, Minister Mokonyane said in Parliament.
Speaking during her Budget Vote speech on Wednesday 11 May 2016, the Minister said that during the drought period dam operating rules had been applied to 35 dams. Four systems have restrictions currently applied with regard to the mandatory restrictions on domestic and agricultural use. The provinces include KwaZulu-Natal, Free State, North West, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Northern Cape.
The interventions that were put in place include among others, Water Conservation and Water Demand Management through War on Leaks, surface water resource management (optimised operation of the Vaal River System), groundwater resource management (drilling and equipping of boreholes), carting of water through a fleet of motorized tankers, provision of static storage tanks and storage reservoirs, water transfers as in emergency transfers from Tugela to Goedetrouw, and Othongathi River transfer to Hazelmere.
There were other measures intended to ensure that the country is climate change resilient, which would reduce the risk for future drought mitigation. These include:
- Domestic rain water harvesting (drinking water, water for livestock, water for irrigation),
- Integrating groundwater and surface water use in the future,
- Desalination at a large scale,
- Invest in innovative solutions such as Drop the Block, a water saving mechanism which was designed by Prasheen Dokie, a young chemical engineer from KZN.
- Incorporate all municipal and privately owned dams into the management system for the future
- Implement further transfer schemes to improve drought resilience,
- Build additional storage capacity,
- Lastly, roll out large scale re-use of water (effluent recycling, focus on coastal towns where treated effluent is disposed of via sea outfalls and not taken into account in return flows)
“South Africa is a water scarce country that has never fully explored mixed water use. For some time now, the country has been in the clutches of a severe drought, largely due to climate change and the rise in temperatures. The drought has exacerbated the scarcity and has placed food production and water supplies under threat.”
“In response to the aforementioned challenges, the South African government has established an Inter-Ministerial Task Team on Service Delivery, with representation from different sectors. Within the water sector, in order to mitigate the drought effects, dam operating rules have been applied to 35 dams and 4 systems where restrictions are currently applied with regard to the water resource,” the Minister said.
She thanked civil society, the private sector, schools, Nelson Mandela Foundation and other institution that supported Operation Hydrate which she described as the “biggest water drive” that delivered water to 13 million people. Operation Hydrate was a Gift of the Givers humanitarian drive that was launched in the Free State and worst affected communities last year.
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