PORT ELIZABETH - BUSINESS CALLS ON NMB COMPANIES TO USE LESS WATER AS DAMS REACH ALARMINGLY LOW LEVELS

The Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber has called on its over 700 member companies to start using water sparingly as the City's dams have reportedly reached alarmingly low levels.

As of 26 September 2019, the Bay's four supply dams namely Kouga, Churchill, Mpofu, Loerie and Groendal have reached an average combined capacity of 36%. To make matters worse, 10% of this current figure is unusable due to sediment build-up, leaving the Metro with little more than 30% of potable water.

The CEO of the NMB Business Chamber Nomkhita Mona accused the Nelson Mandela Bay metro of adding to these woes by not communicating with the public on a decisive plan on how the situation is being addressed.

She says the seriousness of our water supply has a bearing not only on human life but also to a multitude of businesses across the Metro who rely on water for their operations. These are companies that play a strategic role in the area of job creation and the city's economic growth.

Mona says if there is no constant flow of water in the Metro, this would inevitably lead to a job's blood-bath as companies would be forced to close shop and leave thousands of breadwinners without their sources of income.

The City's dire water situation demands that both households and businesses collectively start taking matters into their own hands and aggressively monitor their daily consumption.

The Chamber says they cannot rely on any of the delayed municipal projects for potable water as the Nooitgedacht water scheme has ground to halt due to a myriad of reasons. This is despite the City receiving R233 million from the National Treasury in April after the Eastern Cape Province was declared a drought-stricken area. 

"There has been no aggressive water-saving campaigns to sensitise the Bay about the seriousness of this situation. This is despite the City battling years of ailing infrastructure that sees the Metro losing millions of litres of clean water annually," she added.

via - ALGOAFM