Graaff-Reinet is at severe risk of depleting its water resources.
The Dr Beyers Naude Local Municipality (DBNLM) infrastructure standing committee’s director, Bennie Arends, reported that an action plan to fast track interventions and measures to diversify the DBNLM water supply and further reduce the current water demand is needed.
“It is imperative that measures are put in place to mitigate and address a drought disaster,” said Arends.
DBNLM is supplied by the Sunday’s River, Klipfontein and Erasmuskloof water supply.
The main dams are the Nqweba and Klipfontein dams, which serves Graaff-Reinet and Klipplaat.
The design capacity for the Nqweba Dam is 16Ml/d, which according to Arends is sufficient when operating during higher water levels.
“The current drought is of a concern since the average rainfall is trending downwards whilst the population is steadily growing.”
“Borehole yields are dropping and human settlement housing projects over the past decades have also intensified the increase in the water demand,” said Arends.
He explained that consumption figures had dropped due to non-availability of water.
Rainwater tanks are installed at critical points and filled by water tankers on a daily base.
The Nqweba Dam is approximately 6% full at this stage.