Jeffreys Bay residents urged to conserve water as Kouga reservoirs at 20%

Faced with declining water reserves from its reservoirs, the Kouga Municipality has urged residents and businesses in the area to conserve the resource to prevent taps from running dry.

Water levels at the reservoirs supplied by the Churchill Dam remain critically low, with the combined storage now at about 20%.

Kouga is heavily dependent on the Nelson Mandela Bay metro’s supply system.

This has affected the water quality, particularly in Jeffreys Bay, as silt from the bottom of certain reservoirs is causing water discolouration.

Kouga raised the alarm at the weekend, requesting communities to save water, and announced the prohibition of fireworks as they pose a fire risk.

“We sincerely thank all residents for their continued cooperation and efforts in saving water during this challenging period. Your responsible water usage is making a significant difference and is greatly appreciated.

“We kindly ask all residents to continue saving water and to restrict usage wherever possible. Residents must please note that water pressure will remain low until the reservoir levels have [been] restored sufficiently,” said the municipality in a statement on Saturday.

Residents have been requested to:

• Take two-minute showers and consider turning off the tap while soaping or shampooing;
• Fix leaking taps, toilets, and pipes immediately;
• Use a bucket or basin when washing dishes or vegetables instead of running water;
• Run washing machines and dishwashers with full loads only; and
• Avoid watering gardens or washing cars with municipal water.

Fireworks banned

As part of a long-standing safety precaution, the municipality also emphasised the prohibition of the discharge of fireworks during the festive season and especially on New Year’s Eve.

“In terms of Kouga Municipality bylaws and the Explosives Act, the use of fireworks is not permitted anywhere in the Kouga municipal area,” the municipality announced on Sunday.

“Due to the high fire risk and water shortages in the area, residents and visitors are strictly prohibited from discharging fireworks, Chinese sky lanterns or emergency flares during festive celebrations and on New Year’s Eve.

“The use of Chinese sky lanterns is also strongly discouraged, as they pose a serious and uncontrollable fire hazard. The municipality will enforce strict law enforcement action against any person found discharging fireworks, sky lanterns or flares in contravention of the law.”

To ensure everyone can still enjoy the New Year celebrations safely, the municipality will host a permitted fireworks display, conducted by a registered pyrotechnician, for residents and visitors during the New Year’s countdown at the Main Beach in Jeffreys Bay.

Residents, businesses suffer

Businessman Juan Voster said while Kouga was a small area, it boasted Jeffreys Bay and St Francis Bay, which are popular among holidaymakers.

“This means we have more people coming to our area and that increases consumption, also because it’s quite hot. Don’t get me wrong, the visitors are good for business and they bring a vibe to our town. However, no water means we have to shut down our main sources of income because you can’t keep staff at work when there’s no water. The municipality needs to come up with a long-term solution for this problem.”

Jeffreys Bay resident Babalwa Solwandle said she understood the situation the municipality was in, but a plan needed to be made so that people had access to clean drinking water.

“It’s sad that some poor families would have to decide between buying water to drink or food. What choice do they have when the water coming out of the taps is dirty? This water issue tends to creep up almost every December, but there’s no solution. Every year we have to suffer as ratepayers and we don’t know what the municipality is doing to fix the issue permanently. This makes me wonder if this water crisis is not caused by dilapidated infrastructure, among other things.”

Kouga spokesperson Monique Basson said they had turned to the Nelson Mandela Bay metro for assistance to avert a crisis.

“Since we rely on the metro’s dams for water, we requested support and they have indicated that they will increase the pressure on the Churchill pipeline supplying water to Jeffreys Bay, which will take some time.

“However, despite expectations, our reservoirs did not recharge sufficiently overnight. The current reservoir levels are approximately 20%. As a result, water pressure will remain low and some areas may experience no water supply.”

Basson said as things stood, the municipality could not say when the water situation would return to normal, as water consumption remained high.

“However, historically, consumption tends to decrease in early January.” DM