We had hit Day Zero says Nelson Mandela Bay Metro
Water tankers have been deployed around the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro as water supply ran out across many parts of the city over the past few days.
Low supply in the dams, load-shedding and even a lack of gas has been the causes according to the Metro’s Infrastructure and Engineering Portfolio Councillor, Mongameli Bobani who said,” We are experiencing water outages especially in the Western suburbs, Northern Areas and Uitenhage.
As the City, we can tell you that we are on Day Zero because we are using more water than we actually have in our dams.
Currently, our consumption of water is 290 million litres per day while we are supposed to use 268 million litres a day or less.”
“The rain is not falling enough, making our dams drier each day. The current total dam levels are at 18.8% and following the recent rain we have only seen about 1.5% with the more than 100 mm rain that has fallen in the catchment areas over the last two weeks, added Bobani.
Bobani urged residents to use the remaining water sparingly and pray for rainfall as the situation was dire.
The Senior Director of Water and Sanitation in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro, Barry Martin said: “Residents should not stockpile water as this puts an additional strain on the water supply system.”
The Nelson Mandela Bay Chamber of Business warned last month that the Metro was running out of the water and that the situation had become so severe with projections that parts of the metro could be without water by March 2021 if the current consumption trend continued unabated.
“For a city whose economy is anchored by industries that rely on the availability of water for their operations, the current state of the Bay’s water supply places the city in a precarious position.
If companies cannot operate in full capacity, this would inevitably lead to job losses and negatively impact the already overburdened local economy, said Nomkhita Mona, the CEO of the Business Chamber.
Water tankers have been deployed and are at the locations below:
1) Rowan Street, Rowallan Park
2) Hunters Spar
3) PnP Linton Grange
4) Springbok Gelvandale
5) Colleen Glen Caltex
6) Greenbushes Caltex
7) Sherwood Spar
8) Verdun Checkers
9) Burt Avenue Spar
10) Fruit and Veg, Fig Tree
11) Patterson High Sports Field
12) Greenacres Hospital
Kindly note that tankers may not always be there as they have to travel to Uitenhage to refill. However, they will return to the locations above.