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NMB must cease extracting water from Kouga Dam

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https://youtu.be/F_EDeW-VL10

The Q&A session video from the DA Day Zero Press Conference is above.

Dear MyPE

The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality must immediately cease all extraction of water from the Kouga Dam if the residents of the Kouga Municipality and the farmers of the Gamtoos River Valley are to survive.

It has been calculated that the Kouga Dam will be at 5,6% of capacity by the end of June. Furthermore, 3,1% of this total is dead capacity, as it cannot be extracted from the dam.

The DA will write to the Department of Water and Sanitation, and Nelson Mandela Bay’s Interim Executive Mayor and Acting City Manager, requesting them to act.

NMB can counteract the shortfall created by not extracting water from the Kouga Dam by making use of demand reduction, water pressure reduction, and by maximizing extraction from the Nooitgedacht Scheme.

The Department of Water Affairs has confirmed that NMB’s daily water consumption increased to 329 megalitres in March 2020. The Metro is, therefore, extracting more than the recommended 250 megalitres per day.

The main reason for this overconsumption is the Municipality’s total lack of communication to create public awareness.

With this in mind, the DA has launched the “Let’s defeat Day Zero in NMB!” webpage. This page is a one-stop site and residents can go to https://www.da.org.za/defeat-day-zero-in-nmb to get all the water information that is critical to saving our supply dams from Day Zero.

The Metro must also operationalize its “Plan B” for mitigating the water crisis. This plan entails building or upgrading water infrastructure to ensure that water from Nooitgedacht can also be reticulated to the Western and Southern regions of the Bay.

The DA’s recommendations entail:

  • The Metro must make emergency budget virements to ensure that infrastructure projects are funded and completed.
  • The municipality must embark on emergency procurement processes to ensure that contracts are awarded and work commences.
  • Issues with SMMEs are the main reason the project to provide additional capacity to the Nooitgedacht Scheme from the Canal in the Sundays River Valley is at a standstill. The DA will write to the Department of Water Affairs and ask it to intervene.
  • Water supply to schools should be disconnected and only reconnected when schools reopen.
  • Hospitals in the Western and Southern areas must be advised to install groundwater supply systems.

If we all work together and are willing to sacrifice, we can avert this looming water tragedy.

Regards

Nqaba Bhanga
DA EC Provincial Leader

Questions asked by MyPE during the Press Conference – see and hear the answers in the video above:

  1. What plans are in place for building of reservoirs? Especially in fast growing areas such as Motherwell.
  2. I believe that the Motherwell NU31 housing project is standing still (from 2009) due to lack of funding for a reservoir – where is/was the money supposed to come from and what has happened to that land in the interim?
  3. Why do we not hear talk about new dams or extending the size of existing dams?
  4. The infrequent dam levels report from the NMB need to be expanded to include the different loss types: From Dam to Reservoir and Reservoir to Tap. Are these figures available?
  5. How many water leaks do we have between dam and reservoir and what monitoring is done in order to identify these leaks?
  6. Nelson Mandela Bay finds itself in an unenviable position in that we rely on water from other Metros – what does this cost us and what happens if those areas decide to CUT US OFF? (Not answered)

RELATED:

Sisulu orders probe into Department of Water and Sanitation

Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation, Lindiwe Sisulu has appointed Advocate Terry Motau to lead a team of lawyers to probe corruption allegation reports at the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS).

“I have directed Motau and a team that he is going to be working with, that l want all reports on fraud, corruption and irregular expenditure of the department and all Water Boards to be reviewed and all recommendations implemented. Officials and service providers involved in corruption must face the consequences,” the Minister said on Tuesday.

Sisulu said there is a lack of consequence management in the DWS, and as a result, many officials implicated in fraud and corruption remain at work or are suspended with pay.

She said priority must be given to all allegations facing Water Boards and senior managers of the DWS.

“I received a report that more than R16 Billion worth of projects have been issued irregularly, including blanket corruption and fraud by officials, to an extent of awarding tenders to themselves and close relatives. This will not happen on my watch,” Sisulu said.

Motau has been involved in a number of high-profile investigations with the recent one being the “Great Bank Heist” which focused on corruption and looting at VBS Bank in Limpopo.

“We believe that Motau has the necessary experience and will lead a team of professionals to make sure that in the water sector there is consequence management and value for money,” the Minister said. – SAnews.gov.za

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