ISSUED BY: THE DEPARTMENT OF WATER AFFAIRS
DATE: 20 January 2010
DROUGHT CONDITIONS PERSIST
The Department of Water Affairs has prioritized support for parts of the
country affected by the prevailing drought conditions due to low rainfall during
last year (2009). According to statistics gathered by the Department, George in
the Eden District Municipality in the Western Cape experienced the lowest 12
consecutive months of rainfall since 1921 and is considered severely dry. The
current conditions started around the month of March 2008.
Having received an annual rainfall of 477mm in the last year which accounts for
only 63 percent of the areas Mean Annual Precipitation (the average amount of
rainfall received annually), urgent measures had to be put in place to deal with
the water shortages including the introduction of severe water restrictions,
sewage water is being re-directed to the purification plants and sea water is
being desalinated to augment supply.
In addition the water storage levels for this area are well below average and
are declining further. The Garden Route Dam: Storage is 30% which is 70%
below the median storage. The Wolwedans Dam: Storage is 37.1% which is 60%
below the median storage and also gradually declining.
Certain parts of the Eastern Cape are under severe pressure and are also
experiencing severe drought conditions; these include Uitenhage under the
Cacadu district municipality, which received a total rainfall of 360mm from
January to December 2009, accounting for only 69 % of its average annual
rainfall. Other affected areas are Grahamstown and Somerset East (Cacadu
District Municipality), Kei Mouth (OR Tambo District Municipality) and Hogsback
(Chris Hani District Municipality) as well as Phalaborwa in the Limpopo
province.
Mava Scott, spokesperson for the department says the Minister’s visit to areas
like Adelaide and Kuruman this week was part of a nationwide drive to find
creative solutions and interventions in the short to long term provision of water
to these communities. “these interventions include soliciting funds to
commission drilling for water/boreholes in the short term, recycling of sewage
water in the medium term but also very importantly the upgrading of the
existing water schemes” he said.
The delivery of water tankers to villages who experienced severe water
shortages in December in the Zeerust area by the Minister constituted one of
these measures to respond urgently to the drought conditions.
Also of critical importance was the issue of water conservation and demand
management especially in these drought stricken areas. Mr Scott added that
consumer behavior in the use of water can go a long way in addressing the
issue of water provision to the communities.
During the 2009 year most parts of the country received normal to above-normal
rainfall with the exception of the southern parts of the Western and Eastern Cape
Provinces, the western parts on the North West Province, the south-eastern parts of
the Limpopo Province and small areas over northern KZN.
The Department of Water Affairs is closely monitoring the situation. Interventions are
being implemented and finalized in other areas. Water Conservation and Demand
management initiatives have been ongoing and these will be intensified.

LAST week’s rains may have brought some relief for drought-stricken Eastern Cape farmers, but many are facing financial ruin if more does not fall soon.

Caught in one of the worst droughts in living memory, some farmers on the Sunshine Coast and Albany areas have even sold off cattle while others have been forced to truck in water in a desperate attempt to survive.

And while farmers stare down possible financial ruin, several towns in the district have imposed water restrictions as supplies reach dangerously low levels.

According to Agri-Eastern Cape president Kerneels Pietersen the “hardest hit” areas in the province run from Peddie through Grahamstown, Alexandria, Nanaga and Paterson to the Langkloof.

“In some areas this is the worst drought in 70 years,” he said.

“Many farmers are facing financial ruin. We have had tens of thousands of applications from all over the province for drought relief.”

Although more than R126million was requested from central government to help thousands of Eastern Cape farmers survive only R20m disaster relief was approved.

According to rainfall data, last year produced the lowest annual average in the Ndlambe area in almost 50 years.

Alexandria dairy farmer Paul Klopper said most farmers were already so deep in debt “even the bank manager was having sleepless nights”.

“If we do not have proper rains soon many farmers will go bankrupt. It will be an economic disaster for the province.”

Klopper said he was convinced dwindling rainfall in recent years was a result of global warming and that farmers would have to rethink how they did their business to survive.

“We have to adapt our farming methods to the changing weather conditions and also think about planting different crops instead of what we did before.”

Hardest hit by the prolonged drought are livestock farmers who have watched helplessly as dams and boreholes run dry.

They have also had to truck in feed as grazing rapidly disappeared.

With 580 cows to milk every day, Southwell farmer Colin Stirk said he was relieved that after three frustrating attempts he had finally managed to sink a borehole that produced much-needed water.

“We have been trucking in water just to survive. My family has farmed here more than 100 years and this is the worst drought since 1948.”

Veteran farmer Neville Bradfield said although the recent rains were welcomed, they did little to relieve the drought.

“We only got 16mm and although it has created an artificial green (grass) top it will all be gone in a week if we do not get more rain.

Water restrictions have been imposed in Ndlambe and Makana and fines of R200 or more will be handed out to people who break the one hour a day, two days a week watering times.

In Alexandria and Kenton-on-Sea, water supplies are being shut off at night to prevent taps running dry during the day. – By DAVID MACGREGOR, Port Alfred Bureau Dispatch Online

Dire water shortages from rivers running dry in the Eastern Cape and the central and southern part of the Western Cape, in what AgriSA terms the “worst drought in 130 years”, have focused attention on the lack of regional infrastructure plans and a regulating authority to oversee water pricing.

Emergency measures have had to be taken, including trucking in water and a planned desalination plant at Knysna to avert a disaster facing mainly dairy and vegetable farmers, who have dedicated supply lines to retail outlets but have cut back on their production. AgriSA Western Cape chief executive Carl Opperman said: “This will have a ripple effect down the supply chain ultimately.”

AgriSA predicted that countless farmers were facing insolvency in the coming year. It blamed this on years of neglect of infrastructure with no significant dams being built for lean times, as well as departmental dilly-dallying on allowing farmers to raise farm dam capacity.

At present, Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Buyelwa Sonjica determines water prices after negotiating with water boards, which sell water to municipalities. The argument is that an independent water regulator would provide the platform for realistic prices.

Opperman said a number of southern Cape rivers running from the Outeniqua Mountains ran into the sea within six hours of rain falling in the catchment area. This water could otherwise be stored.

For example, the Ernest Robertson Dam on the Groot Brak River near George in the southern Cape is 90 percent full but its capacity is just 0.4 million cubic metres. The Wolwedans Dam on the same river, with a capacity of 25 million cubic metres, is 39 percent full, down from more than 90 percent a year ago.

The Garden Route Dam on the Swart River has a capacity of 9 million cubic metres but is now only 30 percent full, down from 92 percent a year ago, according to the Department of Water Affairs.

While the department said consideration was being given to new dams in Transkei and the southern Cape, the small size of the latter’s existing dams could be measured against Cape Town’s main supply dam, Theewaterskloof on the Riviersonderend, which was 92 percent full and had a capacity of 480 million cubic metres.

Cornelius Ruiters, the water affairs deputy director-general, said there was an argument in favour of setting up regional water regulatory authorities similar to those in water-stressed countries such as Australia and Mexico.

Nick Segal, a former head of UCT’s business school, has written a report on water stress for Business Leadership SA and estimates that there is a R100 billion backlog in spending on water infrastructure.

Meanwhile, Reuters reported that water was being pumped from the Orange River from a tunnel at Gariep Dam in the Free State into the Fish River to ensure appropriate supply for the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropole in the Eastern Cape.

The metro includes Despatch, Port Elizabeth and Uitenhage, which house major motor plants. They would normally be suffering severe water shortages were it not for diverted water caught in the Lesotho Highlands.

The most affected southern Cape towns include George, Knysna, Wilderness and Plettenberg Bay.

Business Times Cape Times Donwald Pressley