Drought expected to persist despite the rain
Department of Water and Sanitation declares this a worse drought than the one experienced in 1982/1983.
Despite the rain we’ve had, “The drought is definitely NOT going to break,” says Angela Masefield of the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS).
“We now have a more severe drought than we experienced in 1982/1983. Last week, we experienced record breaking temperatures which will continue through summer. The entire KZN is experiencing severe drought and the likelihood of the continuation of dry conditions is high,” she continued, stressing that the situation is dire.
Norman Ward, chief engineer from DWS, warned that the ground water is now also being depleted.
A meeting was held between Abaqulusi councillors and municipal officials, Zululand District municipality, DWS, Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta), and Afriforum to discuss the water crisis.
At the meeting, Abaqulusi and Zululand municipalities were rapped over the knuckles by DWS for not implementing and managing water restrictions successfully.
“If the water restrictions were successful, we would not be in this situation,” chastised Ms Masefield. “We can’t continue to hope that we will find water. We have to change consumer behaviour. We cannot run out of water. We have to make the water last for the next 10 months and hope for decent rain in October.”
Member of the Abaqulusi executive council, George Dlamini, remarked that Abaqulusi municipality had been caught napping and had allowed the problem to become huge.
