Reality bites as ‘day zero’ looms for Nelson Mandela Bay
Reality is starting to hit home for thousands of Nelson Mandela Bay residents as the metro faces running out of water.
The unsettling sight of construction work taking place on communal water collection points across the city is a tangible reminder that day zero is drawing ever closer.
According to the website baywatersavers.co.za, which is linked to a dedicated WhatsApp helpline, the metro is just days away from the first of its main supply dams failing.
Metro spokesperson Luvuyo Bangazi says it will also show residents where all the communal collection points are across the city and will hopefully also address all day-zero-related questions.
Nelson Mandela Bay's main supply dams are currently hovering at around 12% of the total combined capacity but the amount of water actually available to the system is only around 1.5%.
The metro has already used its allocation from the Kouga Dam and last week the municipality announced that the Impofu dam was so low that water could no longer be extracted from it.
This leaves only the Churchill Dam to supply large areas of both the Kouga and Nelson Mandela Bay municipalities with water.
Churchill is now also fast-approaching critically low levels.
The Kouga Municipality has already announced water-shedding effective Monday 13 June for the towns of Humansdorp, Jeffrey's Bay and St Francis Bay where the taps will be turned off daily between 10 am and 4 pm in a desperate attempt to save water.
Mandela Bay Development Agency spokesperson Luvuyo Bangazi says the communal water collection points in Nelson Mandela Bay will be places where residents can collect water for use at a maximum of 50 litres per person per day.
"This is a precautionary step in the event of water running out in certain red-zone areas.
"We hope that these collection points do not become necessary and we again urge all residents and water users to reduce water consumption so that we can push back day zero."
Humanitarian aid organisation Gift of the Givers has also indicated that it is sending borehole drilling teams to the metro to hopefully assist in staving off the water crisis.
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