KOUGA Municipality has applied for a roll-over to take its drought relief programme forward.
Almost 40 boreholes have been drilled at five Kouga towns with the drought disaster funding the municipality secured in October last year.
“Kouga received R58,7 million for groundwater development and we are very pleased with the results of our borehole programme,” said Infrastructure and Engineering Portfolio Councillor Freddy Campher.
“The next step would be equipping and connecting the viable boreholes to the existing water system. We will, however, only be able to do so if our application for the roll-over of the remaining funding is approved.”
He said the municipality had also made good progress with Water Conservation and Demand Management projects, for which R92,5 million had been allocated.
“These projects included the replacement at old pipes at towns such as Oyster Bay, Hankey and Patensie,” Campher said.
“Leaks were also identified and repaired at more than 1 700 houses in historically disadvantaged areas.
“More than 15 000 domestic water meters were further audited and 1 494 replaced.”
He said tenders had also already been awarded for the upgrade of the Jeffreys Bay Water Treatment works and augmentation of the Kruisfontein water supply.
Executive Mayor Horatio Hendricks said Kouga was still considered a drought disaster area and that water restrictions and punitive tariffs remained in place.
“Dam levels have been declining, so we are not out of the woods yet. We implore all residents and businesses to continue using water sparingly,” he said.
Dam levels at the beginning of September stood at 41,6% for the Kouga Dam, 51,65% for the Loerie Dam, 19,71% for the Impofu Dam and 93,38% for the Churchill Dam.
