KOSRA committee members have attended many ‘water meetings’ over the past months. The latest of which was held a couple of days ago with representation from Amatola Water, Ndlambe Municipality, Kenton Business Forum and others.

There are short, medium and long term challenges to report on.

THE SHORT TERM CHALLENGES:  

• There will be no electricity on Wednesday, 17th  April.  Unless you have a generator you won’t be able to pump water from your rainwater tanks.
• Unless a standby generator is installed, there will be no power to pump water from the reservoirs to the header tanks from which we get our water.

After considerable pressure, Ndlambe have agreed to a standby generator on Wednesday to keep the header tanks full of water.  Let’s hope they keep their promises!

THE MEDIUM TERM CHALLENGES:

• Amatola Water can supply 2500m³/day which, up to late last year, was adequate.
• The water consumption increased drastically late last year and Amatola are no longer able to keep up with the demand.
• In an attempt to keep a reasonable amount of water in the reservoirs, Amatola has been cutting off the water supply at night and sometimes during the daytime.
• There is evidence of a massive water leak somewhere as considerable amounts of water flow during the night when consumption should be minimal.

The challenge is to find out where this water is going as it is extremely disruptive and dwellings at the top of the hill often have no water at all. Amatola and Ndlambe will shortly publish water restriction notices to encourage everyone to use less water.  

THE LONG TERM CHALLENGES:

• The occupancy of Kenton is increasing with more houses being built.
• The authorities are embarking on a large RDP housing scheme.
• More water is needed.

We were informed by Amatola that a feasibility study to increase capacity ‘should’ be complete by the end of October.

In order to monitor these activities efficiently, KOSRA and the Kenton Business Forum have commissioned a Consulting Civil Engineer to report back regularly.

Plus, a technical team with representatives from KOSRA, the Kenton Business Forum, Amatola Water and Ndlambe Municipality has been set up to try to expedite the process.

We will keep you updated. KOSRA WORKING FOR YOU!

See also:  Water saving tips