The water crisis facing Kimberley’s Sol Plaatjie municipality in the Northern Cape has worsened, leading to stage five water restrictions.
The municipality has been battling to keep its Newtown reservoir full since November last year.
Old and damaged infrastructure, coupled with increased water usage due to climate change is a major cause for continued water problems plaguing the Sol Plaatjie municipality.
This is even though water pipelines are repaired when necessary.
Water restrictions have now been put in place.
The water supply will be shut down from 6pm to 4am on weekdays, and on weekends, from midday on Saturday, to midday on Sunday.
SOL Plaaitjie Municipality’s Sello Matsie says, “We have implemented a level five restriction effective immediately, currently with the heatwave and weather condition, our consumption is much more than we can supply and it hasn’t improved since November last year. What we are currently doing now is to reduce the times for supply.”
The municipality says plans are underway to increase the number of pipelines supplying water to Kimberley. In the meantime, there are no immediate solutions to the problem, other than to shutdown the water supply.
“The long term is that we have always indicated that our water comes from Riverton. The pipeline is about 30 kilometers outside of the city and there are only two dedicated lines, the 965 and 900 an additional line is being envisaged, although it’s still something that is being under discussion,” says Matsie.
The municipality is now pleading with residents to work with them by conserving water usage, as it maintains that Kimberley’s increased water consumption is not sustainable.
It has also indicated that no alternative water supply measures such as JOJO tanks will be put in place while there are restrictions in place.
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