By Neelam Rahim

Water within the Nelson Mandela Bay area is about to run out in some days as dams which supply the metro area are at about 3% capacity. Without significant rainfall, the municipality says it’ll be facing an unprecedented natural disaster. Running out of water will have a disastrous effect on the population of Nelson Mandela Bay. Residents may collect water rations, and most are left with a limited water flow. This can also severely impact agriculture and development in an exceedingly central metropolitan area in the Republic of South Africa.

According to News24, the drought-stricken statesman Bay metro incorporates a backlog of three 163 water leaks. The metro’s water crisis joint operations centre spokesperson Luvuyo Bangazi said on Monday, “Water leaks account for a major portion of water consumption or what’s noted as water losses,”

“We are handling leaks during a two-pronged approach – the partnership of the solon Bay Business Chamber, and an agreement with all contractors –  by the tip of to clear the three 000 by the top of the week.”

In the past week, 865 water leaks were reported.

Two dams – Churchill and Impofu – collectively have about six days of water left. Loerie has 35 days of water remaining, while Groendal has 166 days left.

“To avoid and keep off dry taps, we want to be consuming far less water than [what] we are currently consuming,” Bangazi said.

Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said he wrote to the metro’s mayor, Eugene Johnson, offering Cape Town’s technical advice, assistance, and disaster management support.

“The threat of our potential day zero in 2018 remains fresh within the memories of Capetonians as we, too too, faced devastating multi-year drought. Thankfully, we avoided this, and that we have learnt many valuable lessons from that crisis. Within the hope that there’s still time to avoid the worst in Nelson Mandela Bay, the town of Cape Town would really like to supply our help,” he said as per IOL.