Eastern Cape community benefits from R15m water project

The Water and Sanitation Department in the Eastern Cape says the small community of Misgund in the Koukamma municipality has received much needed water crisis intervention through the provision of a bulk water project. The department marked World Water Day by handing over the R15 million project.
The Department’s Provincial Head, Portia Makhanya, has attributed the water shortage to a growing population.
“In this case we have two sources of water, ground water as well as surface water and it is a shared water resource with the farming community in the area . And then we had to treat that water because also the quality of the Groundwater was not always suitable for human consumption and needed through a treatment process, so mixing that with surface water plus treating the quality to acceptable standards has been the real reason why we have this project to meet the current demand.”
Meanwhile, several Eastern Cape Municipalities including Makana and Ndlambe are also faced with a water crisis, with intermittent water supply.
Makhanya says Municipal Infrastructure Grants will assist in refurbishing old infrastructure.
“We are now busy refurbishing the very old infrastructure, your electrical panels , refurbishing the whole treatment plant of Makana.  However, there’s a larger problem on the reticulation which is in the space of the municipality. We know that the is a project under Municipal Infrastructure Grant that is refurbishing the reticulation component but the demand is bigger than what the resources are currently.”
VIDEO | Makana Municipality’s deepening water crisis

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