THE national government has declared drought-hit Amathole District Municipality a disaster area.

Typical is Dutya, where desperate residents have been queueing for water until late at night after their water dried up 10 days ago.

Municipal spokesperson Gail Pullen said they were one of five district municipalities declared disaster areas.

Their dams had completely run dry in such towns as Bedford, Adelaide, Chintsa, Dutywa and, recently, Hogsback.

Cathcart had about a month’s supply of water left.

In Dutywa yesterday, some people collected water from a tanker while others walked around with empty buckets and bottles looking for a place to fill up with water.

“We are struggling very much,” said local resident Toto Jack. “What we have to do is stand in long queues, sometimes till nine at night, and when the water tanks are empty we just have to go back and try again tomorrow.”

Jack, who grew up in Dutywa, said: “All my life I am living here and it has never been this bad. Since last year there have been water restrictions and what is worse is that we don’t hear anything from the municipality.

“We feel terrible that we don’t know when this problem will end. We can’t live like this.”

Local businesses are furious with the lack of a steady water supply.

Yolanda Mausi, of Mausa’s Salon, said they had been forced to close shop for the past three weeks because the municipality had failed to provide JoJo tanks to the town’s CBD. “We need about 80 litres of water a day to do our business. Today is the first time these water tanks are stopping on this road.”

Dutywa hotel owner John Botha said his business was suffering. “Last week all 33 rooms were full and our guests could only shower in the afternoon, using the rain water we had collected.” He had requested water tanks from the municipality but had not received them.

Pupils staying at hostels in Dutywa said the situation was hampering their learning time.

“We sometimes don’t get a chance to do our homework because we finish class at three in the afternoon and then we have to go and fetch water from the tanks,” said Mida Christian School Grade 12 pupil Sinazo Dlambulo. “When the lines are long we wait there till 9, 10, or even 11pm, so there is no time for us to study.”

Her friend Aneza Luningo said they also had to contend with bullies. “We wait in the lines for a long time and sometimes bullies come and try to steal our water. So we have to fight to keep our buckets.”

For others, like concerned resident Yonela Kwinana, hygiene is a major concern as there is not enough water to clean themselves properly.

Toilets no longer work. Sibongile Futshane said she and her family had no choice but to go into the fields.

Pullen said the municipality had contingency plans. “We are doing the best we can with what we have. We are tankering water to a number of towns within the district where dams have run dry. We are currently hiring two 30 000 litre tankers to cart water from Butterworth to fill up 11 JoJo tanks that we have placed in Dutywa. In addition, we are using two 10 000 litre tankers (one of them hired) to cart water for the Goven Mbeki and Mputhi Villages.”

Pullen said they applied for R156million in drought relief funding from the national Treasury. So far, they had received only R12m. It cost the municipality about R25000 a day to tanker water to Chintsa alone.

“We are looking at all other alternatives, including sinking and commissioning boreholes … Even the boreholes are starting to run dry.

“We have established a drought task team and have developed a drought action plan to try and provide water to all our affected communities. However, we are in urgent need of additional funding.” — By LOIS MOODLEY Daily Dispatch