Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC, the Honourable Nomusa Dube-Ncube, has welcomed the declaration of KwaZulu-Natal as a “disaster area”, hailing the development as a much needed shot in the arm of the province’s bid to provide relief to communities and the provincial economy as the wells and taps are running dry.
“This (declaration) brings hope for our communities and the provincial economy since it means that as the province we will be fighting this crisis with national government and this will help strengthen our efforts at mitigating the impact of the drought,” said MEC Dube-Ncube.
“The support we are going to get from National will only go so far in providing some relief. We still need to continue to conserve water, use water sparingly because these dry times are actually a global phenomenon that is said to be going to prevail along with the climate change and global warming phenomena,” she warned.
Meanwhile, the announcement that KZN is now a disaster zone could not have come at a time of greater need, as the Kokstad and Ingwe municipality in Harry Gwala district have this week become the latest to have to announce major water restrictions given the intensifying drought crisis in KwaZulu-Natal.
Ixopo dam in the district is the latest to reach a critically low level of 30% and mandatory curtailments in the distribution of water have commenced in earnest in the entire District.
Areas to be affected include Ixopo town, Morningside, Fairview and Hospital areas. These water restrictions are being implemented to mitigate the risk to supply assurance in the short term and to prevent the taps from running dry.
“Water production in the Ixopo dam will be reduced from 2.8Ml/d to 2.5Ml/d as of today. Harry Gwala district has been in discussions with farmers upstream who have three dams to release immediately, but even with that plan it is necessary to implement water restrictions until the situation returns to normality,” said MEC Dube-Ncube.
“As KZN Cogta, we maintain that the current drought crisis requires all citizens of the province to play their part in conserving water because water is everybody’s business and government and sector stakeholders cannot conserve it alone. The department has contingency plans to ensure that no resident will go without water even when the taps begin to run dry,” she added.
“We need to save every drop because as of now every drop of water counts. The effects of climate change are with us as evidenced by the below average rainfall received during the winter season which has left a number of dams almost dry. KZN is on the red-code in as far as water is concerned and drastic interventions are being undertaken to manage the drought crisis,” said Dube-Ncube.
KZN Cogta’s teams will be moving between affected areas to monitor water usage. Water efficiency and water use educational programmes are being rolled out intensively while the department thanks all those who have made lifestyle changes to reduce their water consumption even as households and businesses are encouraged to implement various measures which include the re-use of water.