Blackouts affect water supply

2008-01-31 09:46

Bloemfontein - Water restrictions could be next in line for Free State businesses and residents if scheduled power cuts increase, Bloemfontein businessmen heard on Thursday.

Chief executive of BloemWater, Nolene Morris, told a meeting of the Bloemfontein Chamber of Commerce and Industry the bulk water supplier was completely dependent on Eskom or Centlec, the local bulk electricity supplier.

"The regular loadshedding within a 24 hour period reduces our ability to fill reservoirs by 70%. It's barely enough for drinking water in the bigger Mangaung area."

Morris said in terms of a water perspective the situation was very "bleak" with regular power cuts.

Can't service industrial areas

"We cannot service our industrial areas, Bloemdustria, we cannot supply our municipal clients with water with power outages, with load shedding. It impacts our services directly."

Morris said one could buy generators but one could not place big enough generators in the treatment plants.

BloemWater has two treatment plants, located at the Rustfontein Dam some 45km from Bloemfontein and the Welbedagt Dam near Wepener, about 150km away.

"It would cost millions," Morris said, adding that generators were "not even an option".

She said BloemWater was more than willing to work on a proactive solution with Centlec and Eskom to minimise the impact of power cuts on the supply of water.

BloemWater supplies bulk water to the Mangaung Local Municipality (Bloemfontein, Thaba Nchu and Botshabelo) and most of the rural Free State.

Eskom's regional manager: customer service, Marion Hughes, said the situation the region was facing would continue for the next five years.

"Demand is more than supply, that is the bottom line," she told the businessmen.

'Sharpened' ability

She said Eskom was now focusing on maintaining and improving current levels of plant performance.

Speaking on the situation of the last two weeks, Hughes said the organisation's ability to deal with the situation had sharpened in the past two weeks, and that senior staff were involved in managing the situation.

Shimi Poolo, executive manager of business development at Centlec, told the businessmen the only way out of the current situation was "using electricity sparingly and to be prepared for power cuts".

He said municipal departments were encouraged to buy generators with "underspend" money to pump water from one reservoir to another in the city.

Poolo said although the power cuts had no real effect on aspects of waste removal, the treatment of human waste "could be a challenge" if electricity supplies ran out for longer periods.

- SAPA