Critical Bay water supply: questions the municipality won't answer

Questions on the water supply issue in Nelson Mandela Bay have been sent to the municipality on three separate occasions since August, but no response has been received to date.

This comes as the level of four dams supplying the Bay with water dropped below 30%.

The questions — first sent in August, then in October and then again on Monday — include:

• What has happened to the metro’s water-conservation awareness campaign?
• What is the cause for the long delays in repairing leaks?
• What is the master plan for ensuring a sustainable water supply for Nelson Mandela Bay?
• Is the long-delayed Nooitgedacht project on track?
• What exactly is the status of the different water tariffs and are any changes being considered?
• What is the status of any other water-conservation rules, such as the use of hosepipes?
• How sustainable is our Bay borehole system and are there controls in place to prevent unsustainable extraction?

The questions were put to the municipality again this week ahead of the publication on Wednesday of an article highlighting just how severe the issue of water supply had become in the Bay.

Municipal officials were given a deadline of 1pm on Tuesday to respond.

They missed that deadline and had still not responded to the questions by midday Wednesday.

According to a metro statement issued on Monday, the level of the Kouga Dam is 22.75%, the Churchill is at 88.94%, Impofu 16.77 % and Groendal 30.68 %, adding up to just 29.4% of combined capacity.

The last time the combined level sank below 30% was in October 2017.

And despite the downpour in Port Elizabeth on Tuesday, not much rain fell in the metro’s dam catchment areas — and that applied to the rains at the weekend as well, SA Weather Service spokesperson Garth Sampson said.