Taps run dry as drought grips Queenstown

People in the Queenstown area of the Eastern Cape have been struggling to get water for months. The main dam is at 10% the augmentation scheme cannot cope with demand and a new dam project is more than a year behind schedule.

Spokesperson for the Chris Hani District Municipality Thobeka Mqamelo said the water problems are due to the severe drought gripping the area for the past three years.

Areas affected are Mpolweni‚ Mlungisi‚ Ezibeleni‚ Phase 5‚ Sabatha Dalindyebo‚ KwaThemba‚ Mabuyaze‚ Nomzamo‚ Magxaki‚ Top Town and Blue Rise. Some of these places only receive tap water for two hours a day.

Bonkolo Dam‚ which is Queenstown’s main water source‚ is hovering below 10% capacity. Water is now being drawn from the Waterdown Dam‚ 60km from Queenstown. However‚ Waterdown was only ever meant to augment Bonkolo.

“The amount of water we are getting from this source is inadequate due to pipeline limitations‚” said Mqamelo. “The pipeline was constructed as an emergency relief. We are only able to get 250 litres per second instead of 500 litres per second‚ which will ensure our reservoirs maintain enough capacity to supply the community.”

Consequently‚ since January 2016‚ “the municipality instituted water restrictions meaning water supply is cut from 8pm to 4am to allow for our reservoirs to fill up‚” said Mqamelo.

She said townships in hilly areas are the worst affected‚ such as Mpolweni. Residents now rely on Who Can Tell location and Mark Bright location‚ which is almost a kilometre away. However‚ both of these also run dry. Then residents have to walk two kilometres to get water.

Sinoxolo Mali from Mpolweni said‚ “Since 2016 water has been on and off but as from late last year things became worse. We are not receiving water at all in this area.”

“Carrying a 20-litre bucket full of water is not child’s play‚ but we get used to it‚” said Mali.

Babalwa Siko of Mpolweni is storing water in drums next to her house. “I’m hoping that this water will last my family for a few days because I’m always at work and my children go to school‚” she said.

Siseko Dushu from Mlungisi said his area only received water for two hours and some days not at all. Sometimes they get water in the early hours of the morning for an hour and again in the afternoon. Sometimes the water is back on but people are away at work and miss it.

Mqamelo said the R82-million phase 5 of the Xonxa Dam Transfer Scheme‚ which involves the Xonxa pump station‚ was a year behind schedule. The original contractual completion date was 3 May 2017‚ but there had been problems with the standard of work from a subcontractor‚ which had to be redone; an electrical line which had to be rerouted by Eskom; and payment disputes. The new date of completion is September 2018.

This article was published by GroundUp.