Drought in the Eastern Cape of South Africa
Drought is a major disaster in South Africa in terms of total economic loss and number of people affected. The Eastern Cape has, in recent years, experienced a severe drought, accompanied by negative socio-economic impacts across the region. Residents in Graaff-Reinet, home to 40,000 people say their taps ran dry last year. Some residents get water for a limited period per day. Graaff-Reinet received 28mm from recent rains, but that amount of rain did not contribute much. The Nqweba dam level was at less than 8% capacity. It is the main source of water for the residents of Graaff-Reinet town. The water demand in the town exceeds the amount that is available for supply.
The municipality received R30m from Treasury for drought relief. This covers borehole drilling and equipping and installation of pipelines. Currently 28 boreholes are operating, and water tankers are servicing the worst-affected areas. A year ago the Nqweba dam was at 1% capacity and people complained about the odour and colour of the water; the bed of the dam was filled with dying fish. The municipality pumped borehole water but the pressure was too low to reach all the residential areas and the taps of thousands of people ran dry. On October 1, Gift of Givers arrived with water trucks. It also drilled nine boreholes in Graaff-Reinet. The Nqweba Dam is empty, and many of the boreholes are unable to produce water, not because of faulty pumps, but because the water table is dropping. Added to this are the problems associated with vandalism of infrastructure as well as lack of regular maintenance.
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