Prayers are being answered. It has rained on and off in many of the drought hotspots in the Eastern Cape this week.
Yesterday, 29mm fell over Graaff-Reinet, Cradock got 21mm and Queenstown 20mm. It was also raining in Mthatha (25mm) and Engcobo (16mm) and rain fell along the coast.
Water from the mountains above Barkly East is also filling the Kraai River in the Aliwal North district and farmers are poised to plant feed crops and irrigate from the river.
They are up against weather predictions of little rain until March or even April.
When that rain finally comes it could flood, said Joe Gqabi municipality’s director of community services, and town planner, Fiona Sephton.
Joe Gqabi municipality received praise from farmers and Aliwal North residents for their proactive response to the crisis when the Orange River ran dry for more than a week between Christmas and New Year and 45000 residents were without water.
Sephton said rain was still falling in parts of the district yesterday. The PE weather office’s Garth Sampson said their records showed “nil”.
On Thursday, Saturday Dispatch was shown a spring in Burgersdorp which was first used to supply the dorp in 1897 and has been refurbished recently to supply a third of the townspeople’s needs.
The construction of 1600 RDP houses in Burgersdorp over the the last 20 years had outstripped the ability of the spring to supply the town and other water sources were found. They have dwindled in the drought and now, 115 years later, the spring is again supplying residents.
We were not shown the eye (source) of the fountain to prevent illegal connections, which are rife, particularly in the Sterkspruit area.
Sephton said a national disaster committee was on its way to assess the district.
“It is raining across the district, mostly drizzle. Maclear’s dams have received water overnight and there has been an improvement in the availability of potable water.
“We just don’t know how sustainable this rain will be,” she said. “Some downpours fall in areas which don’t have the right catchment.”
A 30m-long sandbag wall built across the Orange by farmers and the Aliwal North community to try and dam up the Aliwal weir which supplies the town, was washed away on Wednesday. “It was an emergency supply system for when we had no water. The Orange is flowing strongly now.”
Authorities are keeping a watch for outbreaks of diarrhoea or cholera. There is concern for Alfred Nzo municipality, especially towards Matatiele, where farms were more vulnerable, Sephton said.
Relief as some rain falls in dry Eastern Cape areas
Yesterday, 29mm fell over Graaff-Reinet, Cradock got 21mm and Queenstown 20mm. It was also raining in Mthatha (25mm) and Engcobo (16mm) and rain fell along the coast.
Water from the mountains above Barkly East is also filling the Kraai River in the Aliwal North district and farmers are poised to plant feed crops and irrigate from the river.
They are up against weather predictions of little rain until March or even April.
When that rain finally comes it could flood, said Joe Gqabi municipality’s director of community services, and town planner, Fiona Sephton.
Joe Gqabi municipality received praise from farmers and Aliwal North residents for their proactive response to the crisis when the Orange River ran dry for more than a week between Christmas and New Year and 45000 residents were without water.
Sephton said rain was still falling in parts of the district yesterday. The PE weather office’s Garth Sampson said their records showed “nil”.
On Thursday, Saturday Dispatch was shown a spring in Burgersdorp which was first used to supply the dorp in 1897 and has been refurbished recently to supply a third of the townspeople’s needs.
The construction of 1600 RDP houses in Burgersdorp over the the last 20 years had outstripped the ability of the spring to supply the town and other water sources were found. They have dwindled in the drought and now, 115 years later, the spring is again supplying residents.
We were not shown the eye (source) of the fountain to prevent illegal connections, which are rife, particularly in the Sterkspruit area.
Sephton said a national disaster committee was on its way to assess the district.
“It is raining across the district, mostly drizzle. Maclear’s dams have received water overnight and there has been an improvement in the availability of potable water.
“We just don’t know how sustainable this rain will be,” she said. “Some downpours fall in areas which don’t have the right catchment.”
A 30m-long sandbag wall built across the Orange by farmers and the Aliwal North community to try and dam up the Aliwal weir which supplies the town, was washed away on Wednesday. “It was an emergency supply system for when we had no water. The Orange is flowing strongly now.”
Authorities are keeping a watch for outbreaks of diarrhoea or cholera. There is concern for Alfred Nzo municipality, especially towards Matatiele, where farms were more vulnerable, Sephton said.
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