The water affairs minister’s decision not to allocate water from the Gariep Dam to the proposed Albany Water Scheme is correct for two reasons.
In the first place, the commercial sponsors of the project had assured the community that Gariep Dam had enough water to cater for the increased demands – but the minister said this was not accurate.
The water affairs minister’s decision not to allocate water from the Gariep Dam to the proposed Albany Water Scheme is correct for two reasons.
In the first place, the commercial sponsors of the project had assured the community that Gariep Dam had enough water to cater for the increased demands – but the minister said this was not accurate.
Secondly, she pointed out that alternative ways of supplying water to Ndlambe Municipality had not been properly studied.
In other words the sponsors only carried out in-depth research into the option that suited their goals. According to the plan put to the media in August last year, a single bank would finance the lion’s share of the billion rand project.
This financing would no doubt have been structured on commercial principles in the interest of the financing entity.
One of the main beneficiaries of the proposed Albany Water Scheme would have been a 5 000 unit housing complex, coincidentally developed by the same bank that was financing the scheme.
It would not be surprising to learn that the same bank would also be the preferred institution for mortgages taken out by consumers buying houses in the complex.
The other options for providing water to Ndlambe include various types of desalination. It is true that desalination is more expensive than water released from the Gariep Dam, but it will certainly be preferable to spend a little extra than have no water at all.
In our drought prone country, with ever greater demands being placed on our water resources, it is certain that the national water authorities would impose restrictions and make allocation cuts to the Albany Water Scheme long before curtailing supplies to the Gauteng industrial heartland.
It can also be argued that the most viable method of increasing water supplies in the Makana and Ndlambe areas would be through proper utilisation of our existing resources.
Huge amounts of water are wasted because the infrastructure in both municipalities is old and poorly maintained.
Every week pipes burst and spew thousands of litres of this most precious resource out of the system.
We as residents of the area could also make a significant difference by contributing to a campaign to save water.
