POLOKWANE – The ease of lockdown restrictions to level 3 has resulted in the strain of reservoir levels as industry operations resumed.

The Polokwane Municipality said in a statement that at the time of level 5 and 4 of the lockdown, the municipality was able to supply all residents in the city with water because, at that time, reservoir levels had improved to over 50% due to industries not drawing water from the system.

“The situation has deteriorated since and reservoir levels have dropped to between 8% and 25%. This has, as a result, caused instability in water supply to all users at all times. Since the announcement of water shedding in an effort to ensure water supply to all areas, the municipality has continued with the operation and remained as such during the nationwide lockdownm,” Selala added.

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Selala said because industries draw huge volumes of water throughout the day and some even throughout the night, both the reservoir levels in the mornings and water availability in the pipes affect the residents negatively.

“The water is closed at the reservoirs at 21:00 and opened at 04:00 daily. As a result, it takes longer for water to reach areas such as Sterpark, Fauna Park, Flora Park, Serala View and portions of Bendor when water is re-opened in the mornings,” the statement said.

Selala added that the municipality also experiences substantial water losses due to contractors of fibre cables damaging a lot of pipes.

“It is worth noting that the Ebenezer Dam level sits at a critical 15,36% prompting a directive from Department of Water and Sanitation to Lepelle Northern Water to only abstract from the dam what has been licensed in order to prolong the period the dam can continue to provide water to Polokwane and other users,” Selala said.

The municipality urged users to use water sparingly to ensure sustainable water supply.