Reader Shirley Cowling submitted the following ‘chart’ on how to budget your water usage. Although our water situation has not yet reached quite the same critical stage that Cape Town faces, unless we receive good rains in the coming months, there is no guarantee that we won’t be faced with even more stringent controls than those the Kouga municipality introduced this month and as published on St Francis Today on July 21.
Churchill dam, the largest dam supplying water to Nelson Mandela Bay Water from where Kouga draws its water is reported to be below 8% and even though Impofu is at 58% and Groendal at 50%, the combined levels of our supply dams are just a little above 30%. It really is time to take our water situation seriously, not only to avoid excess water charges but also to ensure we have enough water going into the holiday season.
| DAM | KOUGA | CHURCHILL | IMPOFU | LOERIE | GROENDAL |
| CAPACITY | 15.52% | 7.97% | 58.74% | 24.82% | 50.77% |
| VOLUME OF WATER | 19 537 Ml | 2 810 Ml | 62 124 Ml | 751 Ml | 5 910 Ml |
| TOTAL | 91 132 Ml | ||||
READ – Nelson Mandela Bay Dam levels
NOTE:
The budget below is based on Cape Town restrictions.
New Water Tarrifs
Interesting table of daily water usage, but there is no provision for washing clothes???
As I understand it, the table encourages limited use of water in order to ensure enough for some washing. This would involve – saving from the 40 litres for showering and using less than 30 litres for toilet flushing. In Cape Town, to save water,residents don’t run the shower continuously – instead turn on to wet themselves, turn off to soap up, turn on for a quick rinse. The figures for our dams don’t give an accurate picture – our area is served by only a relatively small quota from the Mpofu Dam – its major supply has to serve the Metro which has a huge population to supply. I don’t think many people realise how critical the situation is. Unfortunately the Kouga Municipality has been feeble in its attempts to inform locals and visitors – at the very least all areas should have banners showing our critical water situation. As I’ve written before, I don’t know if it is indifference on the part of the Municipality or a cynical move to placate the business, a sector which doesn’t want to chase away any visitors.