It's dry - very dry - in parched Northern Cape towns

Parched and desperate is a fitting description for the towns of Calvinia and Loeriesfontein in the Northern Cape.

Gauteng residents recently experienced a taste of severe water shortages when reservoirs temporarily ran dry in some suburbs‚ but this is a scenario faced daily by townsfolk in the Northern Cape.

• Millions spent on trucking water to drought-hit towns in the Eastern CapeThe Amathole District Municipality spent more than R90-million trucking water to its towns and villages last year. 

Cavlinia‚ in the province's Hantam Municipality‚ has been surviving on borehole water after the town's Karee Dam dried up in November.

In the Department of Water and Sanitation's weekly dam report the Karee Dam is one of seven empty dams in the country.

Acting municipal manager Riaan van Wyk says the situation is critical.

• Drought-hit farmers need more government help: African Farmers' AssociationThousands of heads of livestock are dead‚ crops are not growing and dams are running empty. Now the African Farmers’ Association of South Africa wants districts in three provinces declared “double disaster areas”. 

“The dam is totally empty. There is no water. No gardens may be watered‚ no swimming pools may be filled and no hosepipes may be used.”

Calvinia received 100 to 130 kilolitres of water an hour when the dam had water but supply has been throttled to 55 kilolitres an hour from seven boreholes.

“Sometimes during the day‚ if too much water is consumed‚ there is no water [in the taps]‚” said Van Wyk.

Water supply from the boreholes is restricted to avoid excessive extraction‚ which would cause them to also run dry.

While the Hantam Municipality keeps water running in Calvinia‚ its task doesn't end there. Other towns in the area‚ including Loeriesfontein and Nieuwoudtville‚ are in critical need of water.

“Loeriesfontein is receiving water for only four hours per day‚ from 4pm to 8pm. We have been trucking 90 000 litres there daily from Nieuwoudtville since November 2015‚” Van Wyk said.

The cost of this supply runs into millions of rands.

An emergency pipeline about 30km from the town‚ financed by the Department of Water and Sanitation‚ is also providing Nieuwoudtville with water.

The Hantam Municipality spends R 400 000 monthly trucking water to Loeriesfontein‚ which relied on boreholes before they too dried up. Van Wyk said new boreholes will be sunk this month. Back in Calvinia‚ businesses in the town are struggling. Michael Koopman owns a car wash business and has been in discussions with the municipality over its survival.

To keep his doors open he has adjusted his business plan: “We have a new product we run in the business without water. It's a 'wash and rest' eco system.”

The waterless detergent is applied and wiped off the car once it has done its job.

For Van Wyk and Koopman the situation is unlikely to improve before Calvinia receives its expected seasonal rain from April.

The Department of Water and Sanitation‚ which will be contributing to the cost of Loeriesfontein's additional boreholes‚ has warned that recent rains in some provinces have not broken the national drought.

“At the moment‚ on a national basis‚ [water reservoirs] are just over 50% [full] compared with December 2015‚ when were over 60%‚” said department spokesperson Sputnik Ratau.

Water levels in Gauteng's Vaal Dam have risen to about 44.5% in recent weeks‚ he said.

In June TMG Digital reported on the water crisis in the North West town of Swartruggens‚ after its dam had run dry. Swartruggens farmer Wilhelm Rocher confirmed that summer rains have filled the dam.