Dry festive season in Port Alfred, Makhanda

The crippling drought caused water supply disruptions in the resort town of Port Alfred and surrounding areas as well as Makhanda over the festive period, with taps running dry in some areas.

For some residents and holidaymakers, the festive season was a bleak affair with not so much as a trickle from the taps for days on end.

The Sarel Howard Dam, which  supplies water to Port Alfred, is sitting at an all-time low of less than 6%. 

The dry spell in much of the Eastern Cape saw residents in the high-lying parts of  Bushman’s River Mouth  enter the new year with dry taps.

They had been without water for several days before Christmas, had supply for 24 hours on Christmas day and were again left dry for the last week of 2019.

Water supplies were hit by the high demand over the festive period, despite the upgrading of the municipality’s reverse osmosis desalination plant just before Christmas.

The influx of holidaymakers increased the demand for water, putting pressure on the plant, Ndlambe municipal spokesperson Cecil Mbolekwa said.

“As much as [the]  reverse osmosis plant in Bushman’s is operating, it has not yet yielded water [to] its full capacity but we managed to supply water to the community during that particular period.

“We had an issue with the current plant capacity [of] 2.5Ml/day (managed by Amatola Water Board) which was unable to cope with the peak season demand of 3.5Ml/day,” Mbolekwa said.

The  upgraded water works was officially launched earlier in December at the beach resorts of Kenton-on-Sea and Bushman’s River Mouth, with water and sanitation minister Lindiwe Sisulu describing it as an important sustainable water source for communities.

Bushman’s resident Terry Pattison said the drought, especially over the   festive season, had not only negatively affected residents but was a threat to the town’s economy because holidaymakers would be discouraged from returning.

“I consider those of us with water tanks lucky because that’s how we survived without water since Christmas — what more for the residents without any tanks?” Pattison said.

Port Alfred Residents and Ratepayers Association chair Dawie van Wyk said many businesses had  coped with difficulty, but those without water tanks struggled.

“Port Alfred is very dependent on tourists over the Christmas season so it is a crisis when there is no water as people either cancel their bookings or go home early.

“This obviously affects all the businesses in Port Alfred, many of [which] rely on the season to make a living,” Van Wyk said.

Residents without water tanks had to collect water from municipal water tankers at various collection points at the resort town.

Mbolekwa said a  reverse osmosis desalination plant was also planned for Port Alfred, but the municipality  was hamstrung by insufficient funds.

“An amount of R20m funded by [the department of co-operative governance] has been made available to install the RO desalination package plant in Port Alfred but the funds are insufficient to complete the works,” he said.

Makhanda residents were faced with similar frustrations but some business owners said fortunately they had installed water tanks that enabled them to harvest rain water, albeit on a limited scale.

Gavin Fraser, of Jenny’s Guest House, said the business survived on a combination of rain water and the municipality’s restricted supply.

“We have about seven water tanks and we’re lucky to have  had some rain that filled the tanks but we have to use the water sparingly and use greywater for the bathroom and that sort of thing.

 
“We’ve been quite fortunate with the water  tanks and managed to get by with what we have but we do always emphasise to guests to use water sparingly,” Fraser said.

Makhanda resident Thina Maqubela, who runs student accommodation in the township, said  township residents had been severely inconvenienced by the restrictions.

“We  have had to make plans to ensure things like hygiene don’t become an issue for my tenants but it’s still a struggle because we sometimes have to go on for weeks without water,” Maqubela said.

“Sometimes  it’s not even the restrictions, but you find that it’s  issues with pipes and they can’t say for  sure  when we’ll have water,” she said.

Makana municipal spokesperson Anele Mjekula  did not answer his phone and questions e-mailed to him were not answered.