Despite the weekend rains bringing some welcome relief to Nelson Mandela Bay, the municipality and SA Weather Service have warned that much more is need to end the crippling drought.
By Sunday morning, the rainfall measured in the catchment areas of the dams supplying the metro was 20.6mm in Joubertina, 17mm in Patensie and 25.8mm in Uitenhage.
However, SA Weather Service forecaster Mandisa Manentsa said the rains were unlikely to alleviate the drought.
“It will make very little difference, if any,” he said.
“We still need quite a lot of rain to make any impact on the drought.”
Weather Service expert Garth Sampson said a more significant inflow to the dams is needed to make a difference.
“For that, one needs at least 50mm [of rain] in 24 hours over the whole catchment [area],” he said.
“The seasonal forecast is not looking promising, so [residents should] still use water sparingly.”
Manentsa said no further rain was expected in the catchment areas for the rest of the week, except a few millimetres in the Joubertina area on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Bay mayor Athol Trollip urged residents to continue to adhere to the municipality’s water restrictions.
“Every drop of rain counts and every drop of water conserved protects each one of us in so many ways,” Trollip said.
“We must conserve every drop of available water by restricting personal daily usage to below 50 litres each.”
The municipality introduced tougher water restrictions last week.
They included a restricted monthly consumption of 15 kilolitres per metered connection, and a ban on the use of hosepipes and sprinklers unless the water is from a nonmunicipal source.
Building contractors are required to use treated effluent water, while car washes will be shut down if they do not recycle at least 60% of their water.
Trollip said it was not yet clear how the weekend’s rainfall had affected the dam levels, measured last week at 19.27%.
“The full impact will only be known once the water moves through the catchment and into the dams, which can take up to three days.
“While this rainfall brings some relief, it by no means reduces the severity of the drought crisis facing our metro and neighbouring municipalities of the Sarah Baartman district municipality,” he said.
“The main significance of the recent rain in the neighbouring municipalities is that it reduces the urgent irrigation needs of the citrus and deciduous fruit industries, that provide an economic lifeline to so many in this region.”
Other water restrictions in place include:
Municipal water may not be used at all to water gardens, wash cars, hose down walls or paving, or top up pools, fountains or ponds;
No applications for new pools will be approved;
Automatic urinal flushing systems are not allowed;
Municipal showers will no longer be operational; and
Municipal swimming pools must be filled with suitable groundwater.