Millions spent on trucking supply to drought-hit towns

The Amathole District Municipality spent more than R90-million trucking water to its towns and villages last year.

The Amathole water supply crisis in the mostly rural authority has been worsened by the drought, which has resulted in the municipality spending more than R1.5-million a day trucking water to the worst-affected towns.

The amounts are contained in a council agenda for August.

In the Mnquma Municipality alone, Amathole spends about R600 000 a day carting water to Butterwoth, Centane and Ngqamakhwe.

The Qwaninga River which supplies Mnquma has completely dried up, while the water level of the Xilinxa dam is just 13%. Amathole spokesman Siyabulela Makunga said yesterday that trucking in water was costly.

He urged residents to use water sparingly.

“The demand for water continues to escalate while the cost of ensuring the provision of water as a basic service rockets on a daily basis,” he said.

About 40% of the funds reserved for water had been spent on supplying Mnquma alone.

“Owing to the drought, Mnquma has essentially used 40% of the amount allocated for carting water to areas where we have water challenges,” Makunga said.

Provincial Rural Development and Agrarian Reform MEC Mlibo Qoboshiyane said the government would continue assisting farmers in drought-hit areas.