The academic city of Makhanda is teetering on the edge with the full extent of its water management disaster finally being revealed by the Amatola Water board.
With the city’s western water supply projected to dry up by the end of April, residents have refused to cut their daily usage to 50 litres a person and are doggedly consuming 200l a person, the Makana municipality said in a statement on Tuesday.
The utility was given three months to pull the city back, but this week said that was not enough time.
To add to the crisis, the municipality warned that dams providing water for the western half of Makhanda were likely to run dry by the end of April.
Residents in the eastern half of the city have complained for months about the brown, smelly water coming out of the taps on the few days of the week when there is water.
They have repeatedly complained of terrible skin rashes and dire stomach upsets.
Makana, broke and inefficient, received help from the provincial government, which sent in Amatola Water.
Amatola spokesperson Nosisa Sogayise said they had walked into a disaster.
The quality of drinking water was poor, Makana’s water testing laboratory equipment was totally dysfunctional, and there was no monitoring or proper supervision.
Some issues had posed a serious risk to human health.
Sogayise said water coming from Makana’s water treatment plants, James Kleynhans, Waainek, Riebeeck East and Alicedale, did not meet the required quality standards.
She said drastic improvements were made but they did not have enough time to fix the system and there was no more money.
She said the utility had made progress and a report was sent to water and sanitation minister Gugile Nkwinti.
Water from the systems still did not meet quality standards, but it was now safe to consume as it was being treated and should not cause illness, she said.
Sogayise said the water quality “is now averaging on 90% compliance to SANS 241 standard and improving daily”.