The Eastern Cape’s water is drying up, forcing farmers into a crisis.
Four years of low summer rainfall have put farmers under huge financial pressure, with many this week calling the drought the worst in their recorded histories.
If the official forecast of late summer rain is wrong, many won’t be able to carry on.
Some farmers are calling it the fifth or sixth year in a row of below-average summer rain.
Despite desperate farmers sinking boreholes deeper, up to double the normal depth, farmers are having to spend large amounts of money on animal feed as they battle to keep maize crops intended for livestock alive.
Small rivers and springs have run dry in many parts of the province, while the weather has also had a dire impact on rural market gardens in the Eastern Cape, as well as gardens in urban areas.
The heatwave has also pushed up the demand for water and dam levels are under considerable pressure. According to figures released by Amatola Water this week, the Rooikrantz Dam is at 40.42% capacity, the Debe Dam at 35.57% and the Cata Dam at 43%.
Water reserves at the Cwili Dam serving the Greater Kei Municipality, as well as the Haga Haga Dam, are completely depleted. Lake Arthur Dam, which services Cradock, decreased from 15% to 14.1% this week.
National department of water and sanitation spokesperson Sputnik Ratau said Eastern Cape dams were currently at 58%. Dam levels in the province were at 61.3% in December.
“Week on week in the first two weeks of January, the Amathole water supply system is down to 68.7% from 69.5%,” he said.
Buffalo City’s rainfall last year totalled 570mm, 351mm or 38% less than the metro’s average annual rainfall of 921mm.
The annual rainfall has been dropping since 2015, when 867mm fell. In 2016, 715mm fell and in 2017, 803mm. In 2014, 928mm of rain fell.
Thomas River sheep and cattle farmer John Gary Wardle said he was battling to keep maize alive to feed his livestock...