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CAPE TOWN – The Nelson Mandela Bay metro is adamant there’ll be no Cape Town-like Day Zero, but authorities are worried about potential job losses should the metro not get some decent rain in the coming weeks.
The city is in the grips of a drought and Nelson Mandela Bay Mayor Athol Trollip has urged residents to use water sparingly.
Dam levels in the metro are sitting at below 19% but the situation is much worse in neighbouring municipalities, like Kouga, where the main dam serving the area is less than 7% full.
“This dam level is critical and does not only supply water to all those communities. It also supplies irrigation to an enormous agricultural industry of citrus and farming that provides jobs to thousands of people.”
It’s the security of those jobs that has Trollip most worried. He says jobs could be at risk if the region doesn’t get decent rain in the next five weeks.
However, Trollip’s team is not planning for a repeat of Cape Town’s Day Zero hysteria. He says the area is well-serviced by alternative water sources, such as aquifers.
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