WATER SECURIT Y
Nelson Mandela Bay continues to battle low dam levels after it became the first major South African city to reach ‘Day Zero’. Danielle Petterson speaks to Barry Martin, director: Water & Sanitation at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality (NMBM), about how the municipality is responding.
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elson Mandela Bay’s water woes date back several years. In August 2018, the dams supplying the city had dropped to a collective 17%. Some relief came from a mini flood that raised dam levels to around 54%. But the levels have been consistently dropping ever since and, at the time of writing, sit at around 22% – bolstered slightly by recent spring rains. “We are not in a good space and we are very concerned about the state of our dams going forward,” says Martin. “We have reached the end of our rainy period, which typically runs from September to November and the National Weather Service does not predict above-normal rainfall for the upcoming period, which means we do not expect a significant increase in our dam levels.” The period from December to the end of February is the hottest of the year, typically bringing with it increased demand. This is of major concern, as the
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Nelson Mandela Bay
BATTLES DAY ZERO city’s daily consumption continues to exceed the restrictions put in place by the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS). According to Martin, there is currently a deficit of around 40 Mℓ/ day in the Algoa Water Supply System, necessitating augmentation from the Nooitgedacht water scheme; however, this means that there is no reserve in the event of any operational glitches, such as power interruptions, mechanical failures or pipe bursts, and this sometimes results in intermittent supply. “For all intents and purposes, Day Zero has arrived,” says Martin. He believes the city’s inability to meet water restrictions can be partly attributed to the Covid-19 crisis, which has necessitated increased water consumption, particularly by the healthcare sector, to meet hygiene requirements. In response to the situation, NMBM has implemented a wide range of drought response interventions that include reducing losses, managing consumption and augmenting supply.
Reducing losses
In terms of non-revenue water (NRW), the municipality currently experiences physical losses of just under 30%. Leak repair remains a priority and, in 2020, NMBM introduced a multimillionrand water leaks project along with a commitment to achieve a tight turnaround time of 24 hours for the attendance of pipe bursts. Internal and external teams have been employed to address major and minor leaks, achieving in excess of 16 000 repairs in the last few months of the year. NMBM is also working closely with the Department of Education and the Department of Public Works to address leaks at schools and reduce water wastage. This is bolstered by a proposal by the local business chamber to assist with water-loss reduction at schools in order to offset water consumption by the business sector. The municipality has also implemented a pressure management programme to further reduce losses and currently has 70 pressure stations running.
