The Water and Sanitation Minister Lindiwe Sisulu has warned that the drought in the Eastern Cape will put underground water under severe pressure. She says the challenges that those who supply water to municipalities are facing need to be urgently addressed, to avert a disaster in farming and urban communities.
Sisulu was addressing villagers at the official opening of a project, which will be supplying water to the community of Clarkbury outside Ngcobo in the Eastern Cape.
“We are challenged with providing the necessary services and support to local government; some of the approaches that we have used in the past have not worked quite as well as we thought it would, because there is a looming draught that is coming down to the Eastern Cape. From the statistics that we have, and we are very concerned about it… we are going to sit down and we will have a conference with our engineers and all those people who are involved in providing water for this region, and work out with our plan on how are we going to avert that drought when it does come,” says Sisulu.
A local businessman, Vuyani Macingwane, has welcomed the water project.
“Water is an essential thing. Whether it is a businessman or a community, everybody needs water. If there is no water there is no life. So, we are pleased now. They have started the project, business sector and we cannot run the business without water,” says Macingwane.
