Level 3 Water Restrictions to Mitigate the Crisis

15 December 2022

Level 3 water restrictions to mitigate the crisis

Knysna Municipality announced the implementation of level 3 water restrictions on Friday 2 December. “Council has declared a local disaster in relation to the drought and load shedding. We must reduce our consumption immediately or face the intermittent supply of water,” announced Acting Municipal Manager Roland Butler. “All areas are under severe strain. I appeal to all residents to reduce water consumption urgently and drastically.”

“We are carting water to Buffalo Bay and cannot keep up with demand. The Goukamma River is saline and the water cannot be treated for human consumption. The Buffelskop reservoir level is extremely low due to the increased and continuous demand, and load shedding and technical difficulties have hampered our efforts to fill this reservoir,” Butler explained. “Trucks are delivering water to Sedgefield too. The water at the abstraction point in the Karatara River is also saline as the river is not flowing, and our water sources are producing less potable water than the current demand. The higher zones of Dam se Bos and Upper Old place were left without water on Monday 12 December and we are also trucking water to these areas.”

“The approximate historical rainfall figure for the greater Knysna area during November is 85mm. This figure plummeted to only 2mm this year,” he continued. “We are dependent on our rivers for our water, but the unnaturally low rainfall received during November has had a dire effect on all our rivers. Those that have not stopped flowing yet are dangerously low. The increase in load shedding is also creating serious technical and infrastructure problems regarding water supply, and vandalism continues to disrupt services. We must all take this situation very seriously and use less water.”

“Managing infrastructure issues related to load shedding and the drought is costing the municipality a great deal of money. Council has had to drastically increase funding on drought and load shedding interventions,” Butler explained. “The operating cost combined with the capital cost on implementing emergency schemes amounts to an astronomical estimate of R11 420 690 per month. Then one must also take practicalities into account, the scarcity of generators that are available for hire being just one example.”

“Level three water restrictions must be adhered to by residents and visitors,” he said. “We cannot tolerate any transgressions of these restrictions and will follow up on – and act against – any reports of water wastage.”

Level 3 water restrictions dictate that:

• Municipal potable water is for human consumption only;
• No watering of gardens (not even with a bucket);
• No washing of vehicles and/or boats;
• All residents and businesses are to restrict their usage to 20 Kl/month;
• Residents utilizing more than the 20 Kl/month will be identified and notified to install water-restrictive devices;

A punitive tariff as prescribed by 2022/2023 Medium Term Revenue and Expenditure Framework Tariff Book will now be implemented for level 3.  This means that an additional 100% of the approved water consumption tariff will be applied when consumption is more than 25kl per month (the increase will be applied to households and businesses that use 25kl or more per month).

“Please start using less water immediately,” Butler concluded. “We cannot bulk up our water reserves if we are already trucking water to areas where demand is outweighing supply. This situation is affecting everyone, and we need everyone’s cooperation in trying to mitigate this crisis.”

Residents should report water wastage or broken pipes on (044) 302 6311 or on WhatsApp: 060 998 7000.