Amatola Water vows to pull out all stops to keep Makhanda water on for National Arts Festival

The Amatola Water Board has promised to “pay special attention” to keeping the water on during the National Arts Festival due to take place in Makhanda in July.

The town has been hit by water problems, with hundreds of outages being reported since January.

Amatola Water is the implementing agent for the Department of Water and Sanitation in the province.

Read more in Daily Maverick: R400m later, Makhanda is still facing a catastrophic water crisis

On Monday, a community meeting at the Makana municipal council chambers discussed the ongoing water crisis. This was attended by the Amatola Water Board, the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) and the Makana Municipality.

DWS provincial head Portia Makhanya and chair of the Amatola Water Board Pam Yako were joined by Mayor of Makhanda Municipality Yandiswa Vara in a session facilitated by council speaker Mabhuti Matyumza.

Amatola Water has been appointed to manage the four water treatment works in the municipality – Waainek, James Kleynhans, Alicedale and Riebeeck East.

Yako explained that in the area under the Makana Municipality, the current water demand was 18 megalitres a day. Current production stands at 14 megalitres a day, meaning a shortfall of four megalitres a day.

“Amatola Water Board’s interventions are directed at securing the current capacity of 14 megalitres per day whilst implementing solutions that are designed to both sustainably solve the shortfall and provide a surplus that can ensure better forward planning,” she said.

In a statement issued on Monday, Amatola Water said it appreciated the economic significance of the National Arts Festival and “special attention is being paid to ensure that during this time the event is not affected by water provision challenges”.

A boil-before-drinking notice remains in place in Makhanda after E. coli was detected at several testing points. The situation has improved slightly, but since there is still some contamination, the water remains unsafe.

Last week, four water trucks had to supply large parts of the town as the municipality continued to battle pump malfunctions. 

In its latest update, the municipality said: “Repairs of the James Kleynhans Water Treatment Works pumps are in progress. It is anticipated that they will be available before the end of next week and the others the following week.”

The shortage of working pumps means the town remains on a “one day on, one day off” water provision schedule. DM