Recent rains will do little to long-term drought damage

The KZN Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) has welcomed the recent rainfall in the province but it has also warned that its impact has been insufficient to reverse the long-term effects of the prolonged drought in the province.

“Our dam levels remain critically low throughout the province. As much as we welcome the recent rains, the amount of rain water has not been enough to refill the dams to levels that could be considered adequate,” said KZN MEC for Cogta Nomusa Dube-Ncube.

The KZN Cogta maintains that the province needs at least five days of sustained rainfall in the key catchment areas for KZN’s major dams to begin to fill up on a sustainable basis. Until such a time, all water restrictions imposed by individual municipalities remain in place.

“People and businesses are advised to continue to conserve water as before and harvest rain water when there is rain. Rain water can be used to relieve the effects of drought in gardens or for any other purpose where grey water is normally used,” said Dube-Ncube.

KZN Cogta has been on alert during the recent rains to assist affected communities in the event of flash flooding. Fortunately, no such incidents have been reported to date but the department’s rapid response teams are ready to intervene at short notice.

“The public must not take the recent rains as evidence that the drought is over. Statistically, most of our dams have only recorded minimal water gains – in the region of 1-2 percentage points. This is clearly not enough to end the state of disaster,” said Dube-Ncube.