Photo by: Creamer Media
Recent rainfall has slightly lifted dam levels in the Nelson Mandela Bay metro, but the authorities are still concerned about water consumption levels in the area.
Dam levels increased to just over 13% after it rained in the Eastern Cape last week.
Parts of the metro received as much as 40mm of rain between Wednesday and Friday, according to the South African Weather Service.
During the same period, the Joubertina catchment area received 33mm of rain, while the Kareedouw catchment areas saw more than 55mm of rain. The Kouga Dam catchment area received almost 16mm of rain and the Patensie catchment area just more than 1mm.
The rain has delayed the opening of communal taps and the throttling of water supply, which was planned for Saturday, to extend water reserves in Churchill Dam.
Churchill Dam has 94 days of water left, while Loerie Dam has 23 days of water left. Groendal Dam has 168 days of water left.
However, the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality has warned residents not to become complacent and said they are still using too much water.
"The welcome rains that fell over large parts of the Eastern Cape between Thursday and Friday have brought some reprieve, with marginal increases in dam storage," Municipal spokesperson Luvuyo Bangazi said.
Bangazi said the slight improvement in capacity delayed the activation of water collection points, but collection sites would remain on standby.
The municipality has urged all residents to use less than 50 litres of water per person per day to push back Day Zero, the day when taps will run dry.