REFILWE MEKOA
"The water problem report issued by AfriForum, is the same report that is on the government website when we applied a self-evaluation report with the Department of Water Affairs," said the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality spokesperson, Qondile Khedama.
Khedama was responding to a report compiled by civil rights organisation AfriForum last week over water supply around the municipality. The report stated that the Mangaung will possibly run out of water as early as August.
"We are actually disturbed by the fact that AfriForum has gone to the media when we have agreed to meet with them. After the organisation had requested to meet with the city, we firstly had to meet with other role players, being Water Affairs and Bloem Water. We are not going to be disturbed by the fact that they went to the media first. We will still meet with them, because they raised a critical matter that affects Mangaung citizens," he said.
Speaking to Courant on Monday, Khedama emphasised that they will provide a thorough feedback once they have met with the organisation. "I must indicate that the report speaks about the evaluation of the situation and doesn’t necessarily mean there is going to be a serious water problem. We would still experience some problems that we normally experience on a daily basis, like maintenance issues or water interruptions due to other activities," he added.
Khedama said he wanted to reassure Mangaung residents that it is not true that in the next five months the municipality will run out of water. "We have already made plans to make sure that there are no major water interruptions in the city," he said.
Meanwhile, AfriForum’s Free State organiser CW Els added that taps will go dry if urgent intervention is not taken. He said the report highlighted technical points relating to storage capacity, delivery capacity, condition of all pumping stations and other water purification.
"Bloemfontein has been suffering severe water shortages over the last couple of years especially during the dryer season of August, September October and throughout the summer season. We found out that the dams provide water for Bloemfontein are not at a maximum level capacity and that is why we want to discuss this issue with the municipality; if they are aware of the situation, and if they are, what are they going to do about it," he said.
Els said the possible shortage might be attributed to low water levels in dams and infrastructure falls far short. AfriForum’s report contains a Government Gazette notice by the water affairs department from last month, stating water restrictions seemed to be ignored by the municipality.
The departmental report installs a 15% restriction on residential and industrial water use in Mangaung, including Bloemfontein, Botshabelo and Thaba Nchu. It restricts the use of water for irrigation purposes in the Modder River areas and from the Maselspoort Dam by 50%.
Regional water affairs head, Nteliso Ntidi, told Courant that the March 14 notice was put on ice because the drought in the area had been broken. Ntidi said water affairs is investigating the water situation in the Caledon and Modder Rivers again to decide whether water restrictions were necessary.
AfriForum’s Els insisted that questions should be asked on why the unpopular decision of water restrictions for Mangaung had not been taken yet. He said the situation was worrying because the main water source for Bloemfontein, the Rustfontein Dam, only had water, at the current usage rate, for 235 days.
"The Groothoek Dam only has water for 180, days since March 26. Mangaung municipality had the lowest rainfall and the highest recorded water loss of all the eight metropolitan municipalities. All Mangaung’s primary water resources were rainfall dependent. The water levels in dams are quite low, and at the current usage rate water delivery is not sustainable until the next rainy season," he said.
AfriForum indicated last week that residents in the Estoire area in Bloemfontein had already been without water for five days. The organisation threatened to take the matter to court if Mangaung doesn’t adhere. Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance in Mangaung said they will ask the Human Rights Commission to conduct investigation into the reasons why the metro water restrictions have not yet been implemented.
refilwe@centralmediagroup.co.za
