DWS pleased with progress of drought interventions in Kouga Local Municipality
The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) is pleased with the progress of the interventions made in Kouga Local Municipality to ensure continued and uninterrupted water supply in the area.
These interventions by the Department were made through the Water Service Infrastructure Grant (WSIG) funding that was made available to the municipality to deal with drought effects that have been experienced in the area.
An amount of R92 million was transferred by the Department of Water and Sanitation to Kouga Local Municipality, with R58 million of it allocated for alternative water sources such as groundwater in areas such as Oyster Bay, St Francis Bay, Jeffrey's Bay, Humansdorp, Patensie and Hankey. These intervention projects are earmarked to be completed by the end of September.
In addition to the development of groundwater, some of the funding from the Department to the municipality has gone towards the recently completed upgrade of Jeffrey’s Bay Water Treatment Works and the augmentation of Kruisfontein water supply.
Some of the work that has been done as part of the funding, include the replacement of leaking pipelines in Patensie, Oyster Bay and Hankey, internal leak audits, repairs of leaks, water meter repairs, reticulation pipe replacement and reservoir level control.
The Department hopes that these intervention measures will go a long way in ensuring that water supply to the area will be adequate and water leaks will be a thing of the past.
The Department of Water and Sanitation further reaffirms its commitment to assist municipalities in drought stricken areas to ensure that water systems do not fail. However, the DWS would like to appeal to communities to work hand in hand with government by avoiding water wastage and reporting vandalism of water infrastructure.
For more information contact
Sputnik Ratau
Cell: 082 874 2942
