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The Impofu Dam, the most important storage dam of Nelson Mandela Bay Metropole, is at its lowest recorded level it has been since the dam was constructed in 1983.
“The pumps on the barge nearby the intake tower will soon reach the riverbed and will need to be moved. The drought situation is real, and we need everyone to take it seriously and reduce their water consumption,” said Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality Executive Mayor, Cllr Retief Odendaal.
“The new barge 6km downstream near to the dam wall requires electrical connections before it can be brought online. This will allow the municipality to draw the last remaining dead storage from this dam.”
The water levels of all the metropole’s major storage dams continue to decline at an alarming rate with a total of 14.90% recorded on Monday. As a result of the severe drought, the municipality cannot meet the water demand of 286 Megalitres a day, resulting in water shortages.
The metropole’s approved abstraction volume by the Department of Water is only 230 Megalitres per day.
According to Executive Mayor Odendaal, the low dam levels have caused a strain on the system leading to Nooitgedacht Water Treatment Works (WTW) supply deficit.
“This has had knock on effects such as reservoir levels at Grassridge and Olifantskop reservoirs, causing reduced flow to parts of the metropole specifically the east- west transfer system.
“To mitigate the failure at Nooitgedacht WTW, increased supply was produced from Loerie WTW. Efforts have been made by our teams to avoid any water disruption but Fairbridge Heights, Rosedale and Scheepershoogte reservoirs have been affected.”
Fairbridge Heights reservoir is at 0 % and as such the reservoir zone is currently experiencing water disruption.
The affected areas include Fairbridge Heights, Janssensdal, Levyvale, Scheepershoogte, Strelitzia Park, Valleisig, Van Riebeeckhoogte, Vanes Estate and Winterhoek Park in Kariega.
“Rosedale reservoir is currently low and high-lying areas in the reservoir zone are experiencing water disruption. Scheepershoogte reservoir is at 11 %.
The reservoir zone will be experiencing low water pressure. Affected areas include Despatch.
“Mitigation measures have continued, and will continue, to be implemented to ensure that supply to all areas is restored as quickly as possible.
Residents need to reduce their water usage and use water sparingly for basic use only,” Odendaal added.
- Kouga Dam 15.92 %
- Churchill Dam 31.31 %
- Impofu Dam 7.19%
- Loerie Dam 46.99 %
- Groendal Dam 15.91 %
- TOTAL 14.90%.
