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This Is Where We Get Our Water From, NMB

By

Dear Editor

Many of our residents have no idea where our water in NMB comes from. Given the fact that the drought remains one of our biggest threats, I thought it is important that everybody understands how the system works.

Firstly, it’s important to note that the provision of bulk water is a National Government competency whilst water reticulation (getting water from the dams into your taps) is a municipal competency. We are often confronted by people wanting to know why the City cannot build more dams or construct desalination plants. The answer to this is relatively easy-municipalities just simply can’t afford to construct this type of bulkwater infrastructure as it ordinarily cost billions of Rands and can therefore only be constructed by National Government.

We currently have three different sources of water.

1. OUR DAMS

Kouga System:  The Kouga Dam near Patensie is the largest storage dam in our region and was the first double curvature arch dam in South Africa. It was opened in 1969 and has a total capacity of 133 million m3. The dam is managed by the Gamtoos Irrigation Board and they control the release of water from this dam to NMB via the small Loerie Balancing Dam, which has a total capacity of 3,4 million m3.
Although Kouga is the largest dam in our region some 72% of total capacity in the dam is meant for agricultural irrigation. We currently extract approximately 40 ML from this system a day.

Kromme System: The Churchill Dam (or Kromme Dam) near Kareedouw was opened in 1943 and has a total capacity of 33,2 million m3. Below the Churchill Dam is a much larger dam called the Impofu Dam that was opened in 1983. This dam has a total capacity of 106,8 million m3. Although the Diep River also feeds the Impofu Dam, this dam usually only really fills up when the Churchill Dam overflows into it. We currently extract approximately 30 ML from this system a day.

Groendal Dam: The Groendal Dam is situated close to Kariega/Uitenhage and was put in use by 1934. It is a rather small dam that has a total capacity of only 12,1 million m3. We currently extract 8 ML from this dam a day.

2. NOOITGEDACHT LOW LEVEL SCHEME

In 1975 the Orange-Fish Tunnel, a 82,8 kilometers long irrigation tunnel is put in use, built solely for the purpose of diverting water from the Gariep River (formerly the Orange River) to the Fish River Valley.

This tunnel has a maximum throughput of 54m3/s and has been a lifeline to large parts of the Eastern Cape Midlands, the Karoo and finally also NMB.

In 1993 the first phase of the Nooitgedacht Water Treatment Plant was completed and it started supplying NMB with some 70 Ml of water a day. By 2008 further upgrades to the system increased the output of treated Gariep water to NMB to some 100 ML a day.

The Second phase of the system increased total capacity of the system to 140 ML a day by 2017, whilst the Third phase, completed only in October 2022, increased total capacity to 210 ML a day. Because there is direct off-takes by a number of farmers and other users on the line our average daily allocation is anything between 190 – 200 ML from this source. More than 65% of our daily water consumption thus comes from this scheme.

3. GROUNDWATER SOURCES

The fresh water springs outside Kariega/Uitenhage provides us with some 4,3 ML of water a day whilst the Moregrove boreholes in Parsons Hill add some 4 ML a day to our reticulation.

Regards

Retief Odendaal
Executive Mayor NMB

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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.