AFTER a year of being able to draw 85% of their annual water allocations from the Kouga Dam, Gamtoos Valley farmers are facing the bleak prospect of having their water allocations cut dramatically for the coming water year, as the Kouga Dam level sinks below 10% capacity.
The pending July 1 cut in allocations for the 132 water users in the valley who rely wholly on the dam for their citrus, cash crop and dairy production, would mean a dramatic drop in economic activity in a region heavily dependent on agricultural production.
Aside from the agricultural water users, the Kouga and Nelson Mandela Bay municipalities also draw from the dam, one of the Eastern Cape’s largest water sources.
Rienette Colesky, CEO of the Gamtoos Irrigation Board, which oversees water usage from the dam, said, “Agricultural users in the Gamtoos Valley have been very careful with their water use. At the end of April, agricultural users’ water usage was 15.6% lower than normal.”
She further said NMB was also currently drawing less than its allocated quota.
Colesky said the department would make a call on the new quotas after a thorough scientific analysis had considered the level of all the water resources in the Algoa System and the demand connected to them.
“The dam normally fills up during floods, when there is a heavy and high rainfall in the Langkloof, which is the dam’s catchment area.
“That area is, however, very dry and very much in need of rain right now,” said Colesky.
GIB chairperson and citrus farmer in the valley, Tertius Meyer, said, a 25% or 30% allocation of farmers’ annual water quotas would help carry them through two-to-three dry months until the next peak rainfall period of October/November.
“This past year’s 85% water allocation gave farmers a bit of a breather from heavy water restrictions of those in previous years. As citrus farmers, we used the higher water allocations to plant young trees, which are now maturing and require more water. So, there is more pressure on us if we get restricted allocations,” said Meyer.
For vegetable and other cash crop farmers, a restricted allocation means they will not be able to plant a full crop and they will therefore need to hire less labour.
Meyer said with the catchment being as dry as it is, they need floods, or something close, to fill up the dam soon. According to Johan Kotze, chairperson of Langkloof Water and director for Dutoit Agri Eastern Cape, which owns farms in the Langkloof, the last time the region received its average annual rainfall was in 2015.
“Most dams in this area are either dry or have very little water, indicating that these would first need to overflow before run-off from good rains could reach the Kouga Dam,” said Kotze.
Port Elizabeth Weather Office spokesperson, Garth Sampson, agreed that only heavy rains could make a meaningful difference to dam levels. “If we have a normal to even above normal rainfall, the veldt will be awesome, but the dams will remain empty, as there will be little run-off.
“This region relies on cut-off lows that deposit copious amounts of rain in a short period, causing maximum run-off and filling the dams,” said Sampson.
He further said, a minimum of 50mm of rain in 24 hours was needed over the entire Langkloof to produce the required run-off to make any marked difference to the Kouga Dam’s levels. This must occur at regular intervals, approximately twice a year.
“The water crisis will never be over in this region and many parts of the world.
“Water is a limited and a finite resource, and the demand is constantly increasing. Conserving water must become a way of life for us going forward,” said Sampson.
