The Hessequa Municipality, which supplies drinking water to towns like Riversdale, Heidelberg and Witsand in the Garden Route has undertaken to deliver water to communities with water trucks.
Residents have complained of dry taps for up to four days. Communities in these towns have also been complaining about the quality of water when it becomes available.
In a statement, the municipality says it has been experiencing problems with its water purification system. The Municipality says its drinking water is supplied by Overberg Water which over the last few months has been experiencing problems at their water purification plant. This has led to brown water landing up in the reservoirs and the reticulation network of the municipality.
The Municipality says the situation worsened last week and they then requested Overberg water to temporarily suspend the water supply to the reservoirs and municipality then flushed the reticulation network to get rid of the sludge. The reservoirs were then cleaned and late on Tuesday evening, the water supply reopened but the reservoir level is still low.
Currently, four water trucks are supplying water to the community. Two water trucks are transporting water from Riversdale to Heidelberg to address the shortage. At this stage, the municipality can only supply water to the eastern part of Heidelberg.
VIDEO: Hessequa Local Municipality in drought crisis
