“The disaster declaration will accelerate the Western
Cape Disaster Management Centre’s Project “Avoiding Day Zero”, the
Province’s strategy to ensure that taps do not run dry,” said Premier
Zille.
“The declaration will be formally gazetted during the
course of this week, and was signed by the Premier during a Cabinet
meeting last week. As it stands, the disaster will be classified for a
three-month period which can be extended, if the need arises.”
Demand management – managing the current water supply from the respective sources;
Winter conservation – ensuring that water resources are
properly managed, despite a rise in dam levels during the rainy season.
This avoids a disaster during the dry months; and
Groundwater management – ensuring the proper management of groundwater sources like boreholes or the Table Mountain aquifer.
The drilling of boreholes at hospitals, starting in the metro, to be followed by schools in high-risk water scarce areas.
Appointing groundwater specialists in each district. The
specialists will identify main ground water sources and coordinate the
exploration and management of these resources going forward.
Assessing the state of water restrictions in the
respective municipalities – while local councils remain responsible for
making area-specific decisions, the disaster declaration enables the
Province to issue instructions for any changes to these restrictions
that may be necessary in each locality.
