Drought getting critical

2003-12-18 07:15

Ainsley Moos

Johannesburg - Experts fear that with no end to the crippling drought that is affecting large parts of the country, dams, which have reached critical levels, might only be able to supply water for human consumption for another two to three months.

According to Johan van den Berg, a weather expert from Enviro Vision, and Dr Willem Landman, a long-term forecaster from the SA Weather Services, temperatures, hotter than normal, are expected. This will lead to higher levels of evaporation, which will in turn cause water levels in dams to drop faster than normal.

Despite showers recorded over parts of the country on Wednesday, a lot more rain is needed to break the drought, they said.

In a statement issued by the Weather Service, Landman said that the central and north-eastern regions of the country got less than 25% of the average annual rainfall for October. "This was not enough to ward off what has now become a drought," the statement read.

"Of great concern is that large parts of the country have also seen a lot less rain than normal for November.

"This has resulted in drought conditions in most parts of the country, especially in the western and north-eastern interior as well as the central interior.

Landman said that in light of the drought, water restrictions could become a possibility.

According to Van den Berg, the weather crisis was "an unnatural occurrence".

Dam levels were low

He said the country's dam levels were low and that only an above average rainfall could normalise the situation.

He said that Enviro Vision had rainfall statistics that dated back to 1915. These show that between 10% and 15% of the country was experiencing the lowest recorded rainfall in almost 90 years.

This includes the northern parts of KwaZulu-Natal, the north-western parts of Limpopo, the eastern Free State, the north-eastern regions of Mpumalanga and parts of the North and Eastern Cape.

According to Themba Khumalo, spokesperson of the department of water works and forestry, the government was aware of the situation and was helping with emergency funding for municipalities.

Khumalo said provincial and rural governments would have access to the funds. "This is supposed to help, even if water has to be brought in from far away places," he said.

However, the Weather Services has not ruled out the possibility of rain in the near future.

But the most probable scenario is that a lower than average rainfall can be expected over the next few weeks. It is also highly unlikely that parts of the Limpopo and Mpumalanga and the northern regions of KwaZulu-Natal can expect rain.

For mielie farmers, however, time is running out to plant. Van den Berg said these farmers desperately needed rain in the next two to three weeks. He said however, that grape farmers, especially in the Northern Cape, should find the weather conditions favourable.

- Beeld