There are many regions in South Africa currently experiencing drought, and since the New Year, Buffalo City, have received stage 3 water restrictions.
The city includes Bhisho, King William’s Town, East London, and townships like Zwelitsha and Mdantsane. In the meanwhile, towns like Port Alfred have already reached Day Zero with their dam level reaching 6%. The drought in these areas has been caused due to a lack of rain. Increased water usage in December is also to blame for the lack of water in these areas.
Since it is the beginning of January, the restoration of the dams will take at least six to eight months to recover, as the country’s winter months start in June and usually lasts until August.
For now, visitors, hotels, restaurants and holiday accommodators in Buffalo City have been warned to use water sparingly as Day Zero seems to be closer than residents think.
Eastern Cape Residents Are Currently Worsening Matters
Despite stage 3 water restrictions, which have been implemented to force residents to stop using more water than they should or waste it, dam levels have still been decreasing rapidly.
Samkelo Ngwenya, the Buffalo City Municipality spokesperson, has stated that residents seem to still be unaware of the severity of the issue at hand and that if they continue to misuse water resources, they could be facing day zero long before winter rains touch the soil of the province.
A few water restrictions implemented with stage 3 includes that residents can only make use of non-portable water to water their gardens, water and irrigation is permitted only before 9 am or after 6 pm and only for 30 minutes, hosepipes are not allowed to be used whatsoever, and grey-water/ rainwater should be used to flush toilets.
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