Water plans halted by lack of funding

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IN January this year Martin said that on completion, the works would be able to produce 160 mega litres daily consis-tently and 210 mega litres daily on peak.

Trollip said, “About a month ago, I had a meeting with the Minister of Water and Sanitation, Gugile Nkwinti, where the minister committed himself to provide the necessary funding for the expedited completion of phase three.

“And one of the main reasons for the site visit is to show everyone, that despite undertakings to get phase three done, nothing has happened in that time.”

Trollip has also urged all Nelson Mandela Bay residents to use water sparingly as the dams are running dry.

“The importance of us completing phase three is critical. Kouga and Koukamma are running out of water.

“The Kouga dam is at 6%. If we continue abstracting water from our supply dams in the west, there is a likelihood of running out of water soon.”

Trollip added, “The process is only 30% completed. The drought means that we have to come up with an alternative plan to increase the capacity of treated water.”

However, during this time the metro has put contingency plans in place to make additional water available for the residents, but even with the recent rainfall the average dam levels has only increased by 0.2%.

There is, however, no shortage of raw water, which ultimately secures no Day Zero for the metro.