Knysna still faces water crisis, despite rain, awareness campaign

DESPITE several days of rainfall over the past two weeks and successful efforts to cut water consumption in Knysna, local authorities have warned that the town is still far from reaching sustainable consumption levels.

“The recent rains, or any rains for that matter, will not resolve our water situation.

“I ask all residents to continue using water sparingly,” Knysna mayor Georlene Wolmarans said.

Although the town had seen a drop in consumption, it was still a far cry from its target, she said.

Knysna’s consumption is at 12.3 megalitres a day, down from just shy of 13ML a month ago.

In Sedgefield, residents are getting close to the area’s target of 1.9ML a day, with consumption standing at 2ML – down from 2.4ML a month ago.

While Wolmarans said this was good news, consumption was still too high for water reserves to be replenished.

“Although we have seen some positive results due to our water awareness campaign, Knysna has not reached our consumption target of 8ML a day, which includes the 2ML allocation for business use.

“This equates to 85 litres per person per day.

“We are giving a big thumbs-up to residents of Sedgefield for coming together and showing us all what can be done.”

Wolmarans said the Knysna and Gouna rivers – the town’s main water sources – were full and flowing well after reaching critically low levels in January.

“While the rivers are full and flowing, Knysna has a total water pumping capacity of 9.9ML day augmented by other sources to about 10.6ML.

“With our current consumption at 12.3ML the off-channel Akkerkloof Dam, the town’s main reserve, is slowly emptying.

“The geography of the region limits the catchment area that feeds Knysna’s storage capacity,” Wolmarans said.

She added that there was a need to decrease consumption to below the town’s pumping capacity.

“In doing so the town’s two dams – the Akkerkloof, which is at 34% capacity, and the Glebe – can be refilled.

“When these dams are full, it gives the town a buffer of three months, instead of a few weeks as is the situation at present.”

Wolmarans said this was the most viable short-term approach while the council investigated and implemented longer-term solutions, which would include the construction of another dam, a pipeline and groundwater extraction.

“Apart from the water awareness campaign, which aims to inform, educate and motivate the public, the municipality has approved a budget for a leak-repair programme in the outer suburbs.”

She said the municipality had also serviced the town’s reverse osmosis plant.

Although it was operational it was not yet running at full capacity, she said.