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Lower Sundays River Canal to close

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The Lower Sundays River canal will be shutdown for 10 days as from 24 June 2024 until 4 July 2024 for rehabilitation work. The work to be undertaken will be at the upstream and downstream tie-in section.

The scope entails preparing the working area (dewatering of canal, excavating and demolishing the old existing concrete canal panels both upstream and downstream, removing spoilt material and backfilling with new material. Construction of subsoil drainage shaping the canal and installing the HDPE liner).

The major domestic users impacted by the shut-down will be the towns of Kirkwood, Addo, Paterson and the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro (NMBM). Kirkwood will be supplied from the Main Canal, which will remain charged in its upper reaches and Addo and Paterson will be supplied from the Caesar’s Balancing Dam, which will be filled prior to canal shutdown.

The NMBM will maximise output from its Churchill, Elandsjacht and Loerie Water Treatment Works (WTW) to partially compensate for the reduced output from the Nooitgedacht WTW.

The reduced demand of the Nooitgedacht WTW will be supplied from the Scheepersvlakte balancing Dam for the duration of the canal rehabilitation. The Loerie and Scheepersvlakte Balancing Dam will be filled to 100% capacity before the shutdown commences. The 110Ml/day abstraction from Scheepersvlakte dam will be decreased to 70 ML/day to accommodate the 10-day dry period. The 70ML/day will be augmented from the Kouga/Loerie system.

The rehabilitation work to be carried out is critical for the reliability and sustainability of supply to the users. If the damaged canal is not repaired, the water scheme will be at risk of collapse.

The Department of Water and Sanitation has consulted extensively on the planned shutdown, to bring all its stakeholders on board and for them to plan for this period and inform their customers. The Department continues to hold meetings with these stakeholders to discuss action plans to mitigate any possible challenges and bottlenecks as the planned shutdown gets implemented.

The Department would like to appeal for cooperation during this period to ensure smooth operations that will result in completion of the work timeously and efficiently, and further urge all water users to use water sparingly during this period.

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Port Elizabethan

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