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Reducing the Fire Departments Reliance on Groundwater

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Against the backdrop of the ongoing drought related water crisis, the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality has welcomed efforts by key stakeholders to boost the City’s interventions to mitigate Day Zero.

Thanks to continued collaborations and partnerships, this week NMBM received eighteen 5000 litre water tanks from Santam which will be placed and connected at the City’s nine fire stations.
 
In addition to the water tanks, a donation of 180 twenty-five litre foam concentrate was delivered; and this will be used to augment water saving initiatives, as less water will be used in fire incidents.
 
NMBM Executive Mayor Cllr Retief Odendaal said: “These partnerships are welcomed and appreciated by the City. Our fire stations are moving from using municipal water supply to using water from the boreholes and water tanks. We are battling with a seven-year drought that really requires all of us to adopt an aggressive, collaborative approach and lifestyle change to save water.

“We are expecting nine pumps from Santam, which will help us to extract water from rivers and other open water resources to refill our fire engines, he said.”
 
During the Drought Mitigation Committee meeting on Monday, 10 October 2022, Denise Van Huyssteen committed that the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber has resolved to extend the ‘Adopt a Water Leak’ programme to two more areas, which we are currently being identified.
 
“The programme was scheduled to conclude mid-October. We targeted six areas and we are now finishing in KwaNobuhle. However, we have now decided to extend the programme to two more areas.” Van Huyssteen said.

Mayor Odendaal said the City’s augmentation plans were also yielding some fruits with more ground water sites expected to service the City in November.

“We are finalising the procurement of new service providers to take the water leaks programme forward. The Nooitgedagt Phase 3 is fully operational now giving us 70 Megalitres a day, following the contractual testing which took place in September.

“The first phase of testing our boreholes is underway and we shall be launching some sites soon. But while the City and stakeholders are implementing all these interventions, we still plead with our residents to adopt a water saving lifestyle,” the Mayor added.

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Alan Straton

Chief Cook, Bottle Washer and Broom Mechanic at MyPE
Passionate about Port Elizabeth and definitely NOT packing for Perth. Alan's ethos is epitomised in the words of Nelson Mandela; "I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the idea of a democratic and free society. If need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." See more articles by Alan.