The ongoing drought conditions across the Western Cape will see the province declaring seven municipalities as disaster areas, with a further chance that the entire province may have to be declared a disaster area too.
This will bring total to 12 municipalities.
Western Cape Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning Minister Anton Bredell in his budget speech on Friday said the average dam level across the province stood at 25%.
“This is hugely concerning. To date, we have already initiated certain interventions which have improved water security in some significant risk areas.”
These include equipping new boreholes, as well as connections to the reservoir and pipe network in Laingsburg at a cost of R500 000; drilling and equipping a borehole in Algeria for R1.8-million; drilling and equipping two new boreholes, at a cost of R2-million, in Tulbach; and allocating R2-million to awareness programmes to drive water savings messages across the province.
The department of local government, including the Provincial Disaster Management Centre, has received a budget of R249-million for the new financial year.