North-East District Faces Acute Water Shortage

Lesedi Mkhutshwa | Monday May 22, 2017 15:25

Senior public relations officer for the North-East district council Caiphus Gabana told The Monitor, in a telephone interview recently that the situation is indeed dire.

He said that the district has been going through a serious water crisis for a number of years.

Gabana added that North-East district continues to experience shortage of water across villages despite being surrounded by Ntimbale Dam, which stood at 100.9% as of January 30, 2017. 

Gabana further said that most affected villages includes Ramokgwebana, Jackals No. 1, Tshesebe, Senyawe, Themashanga and surrounding areas.

He said that regardless of the fact that Ntimbale Dam is full its water system is currently not functioning properly.

He added that the infrastructural failures had contributed to a breakdown of water supply pipes at Makaleng village, which disturb the water supply.

He added that Ntimbale Dam water supply infrastructure is out of date and has inadequate capacity to meet normal water demand, which resulted in prolonged water shortages along the village in the district.

He pointed out that the problem was disturbing as the residents are not able to complete their projects. He indicated that some of the residents use unsafe stream water for consumption. 

Gabana suggested that boreholes that supplied different villages could be re-equipped and used as back-up systems to rescue the situation whenever the main supply system encountered challenges.

Gabana also said that the problem was reported to the Water Utilities Corporation (WUC) and they promised to upgrade the water supply system. He said that the WUC was presently awaiting funding from the World Bank to be used to tackle water distribution and supply challenges throughout the country.

He advised the public to sparingly use the little water available so that it lasts longer.