Possible water shortage on cards for the city
Residents are urged to use water sparingly following the recent decline in the natural water levels at the Flag Boshielo Dam
POLOKWANE – The Polokwane Municipality says it received a warning from Lepelle Northern Water about the severe drop in the water level.
“The implication is that there might be water restrictions in communities should there be no rainfall in the coming months,” says the Acting Mayor, Charles Molepo.
If it does not rain by August, the Flag Boshielo Dam will be completely dry, therefore impacting negatively on the water supply in Polokwane.
Molepo says the municipality wants to alert residents who receive water from Lepelle Northern Water of possible challenges they might experience in the coming weeks and months.
“The increasing severity of the 2015 drought is impacting negatively on us and threatening our city,” he explains.
The municipality currently receives water supply from Olifantspoort and Ebenezer, which according to Molepo, will be under strain should communities not take the warning seriously.
“Due to the lack of rain, consumers are using more water than usual. This results in an unusual demand for water and with the restrictions in place, it would be difficult to fill water reservoirs faster than water flows out of them.”
Netshidaulu Ahuiwi, General Manager of Operations at Lepelle Northern Water, says they are working with the technical teams from the municipality to come up with a short, medium and long term plan.
“We already had a plan, but we did not anticipate that we will be confronted with the drought that is affecting us,” Ahuiwi says.
