The municipality has called on people to assist in finding possible solutions for the current water crisis in Makana. The Grahamstown community, Rhodes University, municipal officials and councillors, and neighbouring municipalities, as well as representatives from the Amatola Water Board, met this week for a water indaba.
The municipality has called on people to assist in finding possible solutions for the current water crisis in Makana. The Grahamstown community, Rhodes University, municipal officials and councillors, and neighbouring municipalities, as well as representatives from the Amatola Water Board, met this week for a water indaba.
Executive Makana Mayor Vumile Lwana shared a brief background of the water situation to put everyone in the picture.
He said the municipality is faced with the challenges of inaccessibility and unavailability of water. “The current situation can be attributed to two factors, mainly drought and infrastructure. The task at hand is for this generation to find a lasting solution to the crisis we are experiencing before it becomes catastrophic,” he said.
Lwana said the purpose of the indaba was to “collate stakeholder inputs and concerns, which will form part of the inputs towards the development of a final proposal and drawing up a business plan for sourcing funding and other resources necessary for implementation”.
Technical and Infrastructural Services director Dabula Njilo echoed Lwana’s statement on the dwindling water resources.
He said that Grahamstown now only depends on one source Glen Mellville Dam which is regulated by the Department of Water Affairs.
The water is channelled down a canal through to the Fish River and feeds the James Kleynhans Treatment Works.
The second source of water, the water treatment works at Waainek, is no longer operational. It is fed by Howison’s Poort and Milner dams that both have extreme low water levels at present.
Another dam, Settlers Dam which also feeds Waainek Treatment Works, is virtually empty. He mentioned that there is a water master plan in place at a cost of R150-million, but a lack of adequate funding is a problem.
The plan outlines proposed water and waste water projects such as the construction of a four mega litre reservoir at Botha's Hill; the upgrading of the Alicedale Water Treatment Plant, conversion from ventilation improved pit toilets to waterborne sanitation at Extension 6 and lower Makana; upgrading the Belmont Valley waste water works and the construction of bulk water supply at James Kleyhans.
One of the presentations featured engineers and environmental consultants from SSI consultancy who recommended that more water be sourced from surface water, ground water, desalination and indirect water recycling strategies.
Dave Render from the Institute for Environmental Biotechnology at Rhodes proposed the reuse of waste water through the Integrated Algal Ponding System and the director of the Rhodes University Institute for Water Research, Denis Hughes proposed a water services information system as a communication tool between the municipality and the public that can be accessed on the internet.
Njilo said an overall action plan on water and waste water infrastructure, water demand and conservation management and financial and technical support would be sent to the participants of the indaba.
Makana Municipal Manager Ntombi Baart concluded that a forum would be established to monitor and evaluate the identified possible solutions and regularly report on the achievements and challenges.
