As I write, we are in the middle of a water outage. I am sick and tired of fetching every drop of water I need from the Spring, bathing in a bowl, and pouring the collected suds into the cistern for a once-daily flush.
As I write, we are in the middle of a water outage. I am sick and tired of fetching every drop of water I need from the Spring, bathing in a bowl, and pouring the collected suds into the cistern for a once-daily flush.
However, through my work and studies, I am fortunate to have some insight into the causes and consequences of Grahamstown’s water challenges.
Some years ago I assisted a consultant who was working on a Department of Water Affairs (DWA – now Department of Water and Sanitation) project. His task was to meet with Makana’s then water managers, visit the dams, gather information, and go back to DWA to write a report and formulate guidelines that would help the town to manage its water supplies.
It was in the depths of the last drought, and the water situation was fast approaching a critical situation. Despite much effort ahead of his visit, on the day we arrived we could find no one to talk to. We made our own way to the dams, we spent a long time collecting very sparse information, we noted the degraded state of everything, and we worried about the situation that was developing. Water demand was unknown, water levels were unmonitored, emails requesting information went unanswered.
Yesterday, in line with the theme of the upcoming World Water Week, I helped to take a party of Honours students on a field trip to explore the water/energy nexus in Grahamstown as part of their Environmental Water Management course.
We planned our trip at short notice, only last week. Our visit yesterday was right in the middle of the current outage – not good timing, one might think. I was prepared to have to cover a lot of gaps. But what an amazing contrast yesterday was from my first experience of Makana’s water resources.
First, via DWS, I phoned Chris Nair of Amatola Water to begin planning the trip. He assisted me in every possible way, despite the fact that he was involved in a family crisis at the time. Without his help our trip would have never been a possibility. We met with the helpful and competent DWS operator of Glen Melville Dam.
All the Makana bulk water supply officials with whom Chris Nair put me in touch (at James Kleynhans treatment works, Settler’s Dam, Howieson’s Poort Dam and Waainek treatment works), were by and large helpful, available, knowledgeable and professional. They took time, in between fielding calls and physically working on the problems, to accompany, inform and assist us. They took us everywhere and explained everything.
They showed us new pumps, new control panels, electronic monitoring equipment, and much more. These men and women know their work and their systems inside out. They were good people for the aspirant water professionals to meet. In short, they were role models.
To the best of my knowledge, all of them have taken up their posts since that first visit some years back. At the end of a long but instructive day in the field, we met with Peter Ellis of MBB Consultanting Services, whose task is to tackle the myriad and compound supply problems within Makana.
Again, a great person for the students to meet. Again, not part of the Makana water management scene a few years back.
Visibly excited about the progress in water conservation management being made by his firm in partnership with the municipality, Peter produced diagrams, reports, and even a piece of “vrot” pipe to illustrate the situation in Makana to the students. He explained why pressure valves “weep” at the road intersections during low pressure events, how rejuvenated pumps can burst old, tired pipes and how the town’s water supply links together across a challenging topography and even more challenging history.
The students were energised and left his office keen to continue with their research. Makana’s water problems are long-term, serious, and complex in origin and nature. We, the great unwashed, are entirely frustrated by yet another lengthy episode without water.
We are justifiably angry. We have had enough. There are people in positions of authority who have been involved all along, and who should be held accountable for their role in Grahamstown’s decline. However, when we vent our frustration, make our complaints, call groups of people collective degrading names, and march around waving our fists and demanding action, please can we bear in mind that the people who are working long and hard to the best of their technical and professional capacities to improve the situation are not the people at the long-standing heart of the problem.
This situation has taken time to develop and will take time to remedy – but from what we saw yesterday it is apparent that through sheer hard work, those at the coal face are getting to grips with the problems, overcoming the obstacles, and gradually making headway.
Amazingly, they remain in good spirits, and committed to their tasks, and willing to keep at it. There is still quite a way to go, but hang in there, Grahamstown. If we think we are in trouble now, imagine where we’ll be if all the really helpful and knowledgeable people get fed up with facing our daily ire in addition to all their other challenges, and leave for pleasanter pastures?
* Grahamstown resident Laura Bannatyne is a consultant in the water sector and the chairperson of the Kowie Catchment Campaign.
