KZN facing worst drought since 1982

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schumi

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JOHANNESBURG - The Kwa-Zulu Natal (KZN) Cooperative Governance Department says the current drought gripping parts of the province is the worst since 1982 with some areas bone dry, while others have been given a lifeline .

KZN and the Free State have been declared disaster areas.

The water and sanitation department has since allocated more than R300 million towards intervention strategies.

The department says the drought is affecting the entire province and rain is needed within a month or there will be devastating long-term consequences.

The department’s Lennox Mabaso says the situation is dire where cattle and crops are dying in increasingly desert-like conditions.

“Almost every region is affected. There are areas where right now the entire town is without water, and the dam is sitting at 0.0 percent.”

He says government has a number of strategies in place including the provision of water tankers to the worst affected areas.

“Some teams have already been sent to investigate the possibility of desalination plants that can be utilised. But we need rain. The rain must fall, and it must fall immediately.”
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More at http://ewn.co.za/2015/11/04/KZNs-drought-worst-since-1982
 
KZN farmers battle to keep their livestock alive as drought worsens

Chelsea Pieterse, The Witness

Pietermaritzburg - Some KwaZulu-Natal farmers are *having to buy water from stores to keep their cattle and other livestock alive as the drought conditions worsen.

As another month passes with no rain in sight, KZN farmers have lost 30 000 head of cattle this year alone due to the province’s driest year in over a century.

With livestock dying and crops *failing, concerns over whether farmers will receive any assistance from the *government have been raised.

KwaZulu-Natal Agricultural Union director Sandy la Marque said on Wednesday that reports from farmers across the province of livestock seen dying in fields and on the sides of roads have been pouring in.

“The drought has affected farmers across the province. In some areas, there is no water at all and farmers are having to buy water from stores for their livestock,” she said.

“Animals are dying because there is no water and feed is short.”

She said crop farmers were also *suffering as KZN’s worst drought since 1983 took hold of the province.

“Crop farmers are basically going to lose their crops,” she said.

La Marque said there had been reports from farmers that there was a strong possibility communal and subsistence farmers would lose 60% of their herds within the next few weeks if there was no assistance from the government.

“The situation is serious and all farmers are wondering if financial assistance or any resources would be allocated to the farming community. It is a critical concern for us and assistance is needed with immediate effect.”

KZN Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) spokesperson Lennox Mabaso said in a statement *on Wednesday that the Department of Agriculture had contributed a sum of R6 million towards drought relief.

“These funds are earmarked for animal fodder,” said Mabaso.

“R91.3 million was allocated to KZN, bringing the total drought relief allocation to the province to date to R443.7 million. Of this, R172.2 million has been spent on the purchase of 45 water tankers and water *tankering services by municipalities.

“In addition, the National Disaster Management Centre has allocated a further R24.6 million to KZN municipalities for the drilling of boreholes and installation of micro water supply schemes and hand pumps,” he said.

Mabaso added that money alone would not solve the drought crisis and said the help of the public was needed too.

“We need everyone to play their role in conserving water and to think about every drop as if it was the last drop,” he said.

The Witness
Source
http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/N...r-livestock-alive-as-drought-worsens-20151103
 
Right. So what a great idea it was to give the hordes of useless, overpaid government workers a nice big increase and raid the disaster fund to pay for it. Clueless.
 
'Water shedding' for Umgungundlovu municipalities

Published: Nov. 4, 2015, 3:33 p.m. by Athi Tutshana -

Water rationing will soon be spreading to the six other municipalities that fall under the uMgungundlovu District Municipality.


This comes after the district municipality has issued a warning about the so-called "water shedding" in the coming weeks as water levels continue to drop in the Midmar Dam.


Bheki Mbambo from the district municipality has urged consumers to continue to use water sparingly so as to avoid lengthy water cuts.
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http://www.ecr.co.za/news-sport/news/water-shedding-umgungundlovu-municipalities/
 
What gets me, is that KZN is a disaster area already.. but Water rationing hasn't been implemented yet.

It would have been the first thing to do in my opinion, make what we currently have last for as long as possible.
 
ToxicBunny said:
What gets me, is that KZN is a disaster area already.. but Water rationing hasn't been implemented yet.

It would have been the first thing to do in my opinion, make what we currently have last for as long as possible.
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I assume some parts of Ethekweni get water from Inanda Dam http://www.umgeni.co.za/media_centre/drd.asp, 84.86 % is decent , Think Hazelmere water rationing started at 40%
 
40% of Durban’s water lost as drought grips

Durban - Durban continues to lose hundreds of millions of litres of water every day, despite the city and province being in the grip of the fiercest drought in 30 years.

This costly wastage was revealed when the city’s finance corporate executive, Thabi Khuzwayo, briefed the human settlements and infrastructure committee this week.

Khuzwayo, who had been discussing the debt and rates collection for September, told councillors that Durban lost just more than 40% of its water in that month.

Since the drought started late last year, the municipality has implemented restrictions in severely affected areas, most of which are in the north of the city.

Early this year water and sanitation head Ednick Msweli detailed the grim state of water affairs in the city, saying drastic measures were needed to stop the rot. At the time he said the city was losing about 35% of its water. He told councillors the municipality would need about R300 million a year for the next five years to deal with the water loss nightmare.

Contributing to the figure were unmetered connections, connections not on the Coins billing system or not monitored; inadequate capacity (human and financial resources) and vandalism of infrastructure.

Msweli’s assertion came after the auditor-general revealed in January how the city was losing 237 million litres of water a day because of leaks. The losses apparently amounted to R602.6 million a year.

But months on, nothing has changed and, if anything, the situation appears to be escalating.
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More at http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-afr...-lost-as-drought-grips-1.1941535#.Vjy1n7-Q-Uk
 
Patients and staff stranded in KZN over water protests

Laura Lopez Gonzalez

Staff and patients at Bethesda District Hospital have been left stranded as local communities protest water shortages. Community members say patients have been unable to access treatment and emergency cases have been diverted since protests started on Wednesday.

Located about 330km east of Newcastle in Ubombo, the 230-bed hospital has been unable to get patients or supplies in or out of the hospital since community members from nearby Jozini began protesting water shortages in the area.

It is believed that the protests were sparked by Umkhanyakude District Municipality’s alleged failure to provide water deliveries via tankers for two months.

On Thursday, the protesters had blocked the road to and from the hospital, effectively cutting off the hospital from deliveries of supplies or critically ill patients from emergency care.

According to local EMS personnel who asked not to be named, at least one patient in need of emergency care had to be diverted to a local clinic where nurses had to be telephonically coached on how to stabilise the patient before she could be transported to another hospital.

On Friday, several community members have also reported that patients on chronic medication like antiretrovirals and tuberculosis medication have not been able to collect treatment for several days.

Umbombo Police have confirmed that protesters continue to block access to the hospital and have called for local leaders to address the crowd.

“With the manpower that we have got, we are doing everything to calm down the situation but the people are still blocking the access,” said South African Police Service (SAPS) Major Thulani Zwane. “Leadership in the area need to talk to the community and address their needs.”

Zwane said it was unlikely that SAPS would be able to, for instance, try to escort patients in or out of the hospital.

“We will continue to monitor the situation in the area and it is not easy to reach hospital,” Zwane added. “Our duty is to try and manage the situation in the area, but hospital management may get other (alternatives) to protect their staff while police are busy with protests.”

Spokesperson for the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health, Sam Mkhwanazi, said: “The Department does have plans in place to mitigate the impact of the protest action on service delivery at Bethesda Hospital.” – Health-e News Service.

Health-e News
Source
http://www.health24.com/News/Public...-stranded-in-kzn-over-water-protests-20151106
 
S'pose the positive to this is that people will be too thirsty to march around, dance, throw stones and protest.

The protests usually affect the wrong people ..... I can assure you, the politicians in their air conditioned offices, with water coolers dont give a rats ring.
 
TEXTILE GUY said:
S'pose the positive to this is that people will be too thirsty to march around, dance, throw stones and protest.

The protests usually affect the wrong people ..... I can assure you, the politicians in their air conditioned offices, with water coolers dont give a rats ring.
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water coolers?!?!

The only water the politicians get is in the blocks of ice they use with the Johnny Blue.
 
40% of Durban’s water lost as drought grips

http://beta.iol.co.za/news/south-af...f-durbans-water-lost-as-drought-grips-1941535

Durban - Durban continues to lose hundreds of millions of litres of water every day, despite the city and province being in the grip of the fiercest drought in 30 years.

This costly wastage was revealed when the city’s finance corporate executive, Thabi Khuzwayo, briefed the human settlements and infrastructure committee this week.

Khuzwayo, who had been discussing the debt and rates collection for September, told councillors that Durban lost just more than 40% of its water in that month.

Since the drought started late last year, the municipality has implemented restrictions in severely affected areas, most of which are in the north of the city.

Early this year water and sanitation head Ednick Msweli detailed the grim state of water affairs in the city, saying drastic measures were needed to stop the rot. At the time he said the city was losing about 35% of its water. He told councillors the municipality would need about R300 million a year for the next five years to deal with the water loss nightmare.

Contributing to the figure were unmetered connections, connections not on the Coins billing system or not monitored; inadequate capacity (human and financial resources) and vandalism of infrastructure.

Msweli’s assertion came after the auditor-general revealed in January how the city was losing 237 million litres of water a day because of leaks. The losses apparently amounted to R602.6 million a year.

But months on, nothing has changed and, if anything, the situation appears to be escalating.

Khuzwayo said: “The average loss in distribution of water last month (August) was 37.7% and this month (September) it is 41.6%.”

Councillors in opposition parties are worried and are demanding that the reckless loss be curbed.

The DA councillor in the committee, Heinz De Boer, was startled by the revelation.

“We need some understanding as to what’s causing that loss. Secondly, it is unacceptable – at this stage of the water game. Things are very, very bad, as you would know. And to find that water loss has jumped up is a real concern. We need some explanation on that.”

Councillor Mdu Nkosi of the IFP, also a member of the committee, said such statistics indicated that the municipality was not keen to tackle the water loss crisis.

“Ednick Msweli (water head) presented brilliant ideas to tackle this. He requested funds for leaking pipes to be fixed or replaced … He told us that the issue of standpipes needed to be attended to. But it looks like the water crisis we speak of every day is falling on deaf ears.”

He complained that burst pipes were left unattended for weeks, especially in townships and informal settlements, “yet we are told that we have plumbers available 24 hours a day”.

A study released in 2013 on water use revealed how Durban’s loss had deteriorated in the past 10 years. The research was by Ronnie McKenzie, Zama Siqalaba and William Wegelin of WRP Consulting Engineers for the Water Research Council.

In 2005, Durban lost 29.1% of its water, 31.8% the following year and 33.5% in 2007. The city lost 36.4%, 38.9% and 37.5% in the following three years, respectively.

According to a December 2014 report in The Water Wheel magazine, 37% of all water supplied to South African municipalities was being lost.

Of the country’s four leading metros, Johannesburg was the worst offender, followed by Durban, while Pretoria fared better and Cape Town was losing the least amount of water.

The municipality issued a statement on Thursday saying it had intensified its drought and water conservation campaigns.

Municipal spokeswoman Tozi Mthethwa said the restrictions had been implemented “to ensure continuous supply is maintained”.

The municipality was sending water tankers to affected areas.

This week the key Hazelmere Dam, north of the city, dropped to below 27.5% of its capacity. Midmar Dam, which provides a significant amount of water to the city, is hovering just above 50%.
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Water crisis: KZN dam levels drop

Durban - The authorities will take a decision on Tuesday on whether to increase water restrictions by a further 20% as water stocks continue to drop.

Umgeni Water’s corporate stakeholder manager, Shami Harichunder, said on Sunday the amount of rainfall over the past three days amounted to only 23mm, which was not sufficient to make a difference to Hazelmere Dam’s level. The dam supplies Verulam, Waterloo, Grange, Redcliff, Trenace, Westbrook, La Mercy, Sea Tides, Emona, Burbreeze and eMdloti and Ballito.

“The restriction of 30% remains in place. As a result of the deteriorating situation – the level of the dam is in the region of 25.8% – a decision will be taken on Tuesday on whether to increase restrictions to 50%,” said Harichunder

He said the need to conserve water remained and he appealed to consumers to use water sparingly.

“The little water available will have to last until good rainfall occurs, which weather forecasters predict will be in the first quarter of 2016,” he said.

The eThekwini Municipality said the uMngeni River system, which supplied the greater part of Durban, was also severely strained.
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More at http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-afr...is-kzn-dam-levels-drop-1.1945876#.Vkm3AOKQ9hE
 
I asked in another thread but can't find it. What about the KAtse?
It is linked to the Tugela. Would that not help?
 
Mila said:
I asked in another thread but can't find it. What about the KAtse?
It is linked to the Tugela. Would that not help?
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Lesotho Highlands water project supplies water to Gauteng via the Leibenbergs vlei river to the Wilge river and into the Vaal dam
 
That part I knew, How full is it?

I screwed up the information. The Tugela also start there it is not feeded from there. :)

All the major rivers of landlocked Lesotho are well-stocked with the finest trout, and with the exception of the Tugela, flow west into the Atlantic Ocean. (The Orange River starts as the Senqu River near Cathedral Peak). The Lesotho Highlands Water Project has changed all this, with water now being diverted north by gravity (Go Lesotho; 2014).
Click to expand...
 
Mila said:
I asked in another thread but can't find it. What about the KAtse?
It is linked to the Tugela. Would that not help?
Click to expand...

You're probably thinking of the Sterkfontein Dam in the Harrismith/Phuthaditjhaba area -- and that's a hydroelectric pumped storage scheme. It does supply water, but from the Tugela to the Vaal.
 
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Taps tighten in KZN

Durban - People living in areas where water is supplied by Hazelmere Dam, face further water restrictions with the recent rains having done nothing to ease KwaZulu-Natal’s worst drought in decades.

As of next Monday, Umgeni Water will impose a 50% water restriction on areas within the eThekwini and iLembe District municipalities as well as those served by Semcorp Siza Water.

Umgeni spokesman, Shami Harichunder, said the decision to limit the water flow to Verulam, Waterloo, La Mercy, Ballito, Ndwedwe, Groutville, Umhlali and Westbrook, among others, was because of the situation at Hazelmere Dam, which is only 25.8% full.

This was to stretch the water supply so that it could last to March/April next year - hopefully by which time the rains would have come.

“If the water is to last until the time rains are expected, we have to reduce the demand and this is done through water restrictions. We don’t want a situation where the dams run dry. Water restrictions are imperative to ensure this,” he said.

These areas were already living with 30% water restrictions.

If the dam were to reach 5%, this would mean the water was untreatable and tantamount to the dam being dry, said Harichunder.
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http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/kwazulu-natal/taps-tighten-in-kzn-1.1947345#.Vkx-AOKQ9hE
 
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