Water – ‘Be prepared for the worst’

AS EACH DAY passes without rain, the situation with the town’s water gets more and more serious. Klipfontein Dam, which Vryheid does not have the exclusive use of, is approaching 30% of its storage capacity. Bloemveld Dam is to all intents empty.

This week, the stored contents of Grootgewacht Dam are to be diverted to Bloemveld. It was to have happened late last week, but a snag was encountered.

Cllr Harry Heyns outlined the problem:

“We have today [Friday last week] found the problem why the water will not flow from Grootgewacht to Bloemveld.

“It seems that an air valve in a farm dam is causing the problem. Our pipe goes right through the dam.

“Anyway Horst Hellberg, the owner of the dam, says Vryheid needs the water so he has opened the outlet of his dam and is draining all the water which means that all that water is on its way to Bloemveld! Thanks Horst.

“Once his dam is empty we will fix the problem and then be able to supply Bloemveld from Grootgewacht for a while.

“This will bring some relief but not for long. We still have to work sparingly with water and not waste it.

“Water pressure has also been reduced in an effort to save water, but be prepared for the worst.”

And yet we have heard, people are still watering their gardens, in town and in the low-cost housing area known as Sasko area.

There are also reports of people from that Sasko area begging for water in Bhekuzulu over this past weekend, and it is not known if that as was a result of the water pressure being lowered as Cllr Heyns indicated.