Cape Town - South Africa is no stranger to load shedding but now a municipality in the Western Cape has introduced another type of shedding – water shedding.
Residents from Grabouw under the Theewaterskloof Municipality, a local municipality located within the Overberg District Municipality, will for six weeks experience water shedding following increased demand.
Their water-shedding schedule showed that water blackouts started on Thursday.
The current challenge in Grabouw is twofold, one being the pumping capacity to reservoirs and the other the water purification plant capability. Water coming out of taps is brownish and residents are concerned about their health.
“The municipality says the water is safe to drink, but people have been complaining about stomach aches since they started drinking this water,” said community member Lindokuhle Thembani.
He said there were days when taps would run dry and they had to depend on water trucks.
“Even the water from the trucks isn’t pure, it is brownish. People cannot afford to buy bottled water.”
The water situation in Grabouw has long been under tremendous pressure. However, recently the demand has erupted beyond demand capability.
“In the interim, to improve water quality, water shedding must be implemented to alleviate pressure from the reservoirs and water purification plant until such time that alterations and repairs have been completed,” explained Wilfred Solomons-Johannes, director for the municipality’s community services.
He said the ageing infrastructure and lack of suitable bulk upgrades with the ongoing immigration occurrences has added immense pressure to water supply, especially during higher peak demand time frames.
“Grabouw has three main reservoirs, namely Steenbras Lower, Steenbras Upper and Uitkyk, that individually supply water to most of Grabouw. The growing demand surrounding each reservoir has increased immensely to such an extent that water balancing between the reservoirs is almost impossible from the water purification plant.”
He said the solution is to fix both issues systematically.
“The current malfunctioned pumps that irrespectively support Upper Steenbras and Uitkyk reservoirs are already at suppliers with agreed authorisation and should be repaired within the week. Unfortunately, the water purification plant issues cannot be fixed mechanically and require alternative solutions that will enhance performance to deal with the demand.”
The water technologists at Theewaterskloof Municipality took samples of the water and said it is safe for human consumption.
“The discolouration is due to the low water levels of the reservoirs and the high water usage. The water has been purified and complies with the SANS 241 standards,” said Solomons-Johannes.
The water shedding is expected to end on May 2.
Weekend Argus