POLOKWANE – Reservoir levels have shown a slight improvement since last week, however, we are still in the ‘red zone’, according to Polokwane Municipality’s Communications and Marketing Manager, Matshidiso Mothapo.

Mothapo said Lepelle Northern Water recently implemented measures to improve reservoir levels as bulk water supply remains a challenge.

In a statement, LNW’s communications officer, Simon Mpamonyane, said the water utility embarked on a process of backwashing sand filters to improve their effectiveness. 

“The Ebenezer plant has 10 sand filters which get backwashed four times daily under normal circumstances, but in this crisis period, they are backwashed eight to 10 times per day. The process is proving to be successful since more water can be purified and be pushed towards Polokwane reservoirs,” he explained.

The “crisis period” Mpamonyane refers to, is the operational challenges LNW faced after heavy rains recently.

“The plant could not handle the high turbidity levels, resulting in less water being abstracted from the dam,” Mpamonyane added.

He said the condition contributed to less water being released to the supply areas, including reservoirs for Polokwane Municipality.

Mothapo said most areas have been restored.

“The reservoirs were at 0% in the past week as a result of challenges experienced at Ebenezer. The reservoir levels are, however, still in the red zone and we encourage all stakeholders to continue using water sparingly in order for the reservoirs to stabilise,” he said.

Mothapo provided us with the reservoir levels for the past two days:

15 February at 18:40

• Ext 34 (Ivydale): 80%
• Potgieter: 6%
• 50Ml Krugersburg: 20%
• 30Ml D Krugersburg: 9%
• 30MI F Krugersburg: 5%
• Olifantspoort: 263l/s
• Ebenezer: 66l/s
• Seshego: 9%
• Seshego: 84l/s

16 February at 08:23

• Ext 34 (Ivydale): 80%
• Potgieter: 2%
• 50Ml Krugersburg: 18%
• 30Ml D Krugersburg: 8%
• 30MI F Krugersburg: 8%
• Olifantspoort: 92/s
• Ebenezer: 170l/s
• Seshego: 6%
• Seshego: 84l/s

Mpamonyane said LNW is doing everything in its power to get the schemes back to full operation status to turn the situation around.

“The challenges experienced at Ebenezer scheme have not happened before and took the organisation by surprise. LNW regrets finding itself in this situation and is doing everything to get out of this dire situation,” Mpamonyane concluded.