Bay's brown tap water due to low dam levels

The brownish colour of tap water in large parts of Nelson Mandela Bay is due to the low-level of the city’s dams.

But this coloured water remains safe, according to a statement issued by the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality.

The Impofu dam has dropped below its lowest intake level - leaving the city with a shortage of 35 mega-litres a day.

Some of the water for the city is piped to the metro from the Kromme, Kouga and Orange River systems.

Water from the Kromme River comes in through independent pipelines from the Churchill Dam west of Humansdorp and the much larger Impofu Dam.

It is channelled through the Emerald Hill, Driftsands and St George’s reservoirs to feed the southern and central suburbs of the city.

"Due to the ongoing drought conditions, the municipality is experiencing difficulties supplying water at the Elandsjagt water treatment works as the Impofu dam level has dropped to below the lowest intake point of the intake tower," a statement reads. 

“It is imperative that every consumer now drastically reduces water consumption to an absolute minimum so that the reduced supply can be distributed evenly throughout city and to preserve the available water.”

The municipality said interventions are in place, which include:

• Improved turnaround time on fixing of water leaks and pipe bursts;
• Installation of barge pump station to access “dead” storage; and
• Maximising the use of available Nooitgedagt water via transfer pump stations.

According to the latest recorded figures on Monday, the Bay’s dam levels are: Kouga 33.20%, Churchill 86.19%, Impofu 16.47% and Groendal 39.86%, producing the average combined figure of 33.96%.

Is the water coming from your taps brown in colour? If so, let us what you think by emailing Nomazima Nkosi at nkosino@tisoblackstar.co.za