GEORGE NEWS - Flood damage, pipeline problems, water restrictions and persistent Blue Flag beach dog walkers made its way to the mayoral address on Monday 31 January.
Herewith some of the highlights of Mayor Leon van Wyk's speech
• George experienced severe floods (22 November 2021 and a major rainstorm two weeks later) which caused water network damage. The municipality did a determination of the extent of the damages, which was submitted as claims in terms of the Disaster Management Committee requirements.
The national DMC has recommended that over R230m of these claims be approved. It is not clear when these grants will be paid out, but it is expected that this will only be forthcoming in a future financial year. Within the claims, the municipality also made provision, as requested, for preventative measures for such eventualities in the future.
• The holiday season proved to be busier than normal in terms of the numbers of visitors and for the economy as well. A Season Preparedness Monitoring Committee met daily to oversee preparations for the holiday season.
There are vendors who continue to sell fireworks, exposing members of the public and animals to the resulting dangers. There were also members of the public who brought liquor to the beaches.
Others continued to attempt to walk their dogs on beaches where the municipality is attempting to achieve international tourism recognition for a Blue Flag beach.
• Blue Flag status requires stringent testing of water quality. During this testing and follow-up investigations, it became evident that private property owners are probably using conservancy tanks instead of the municipal sewer system, but then fail to have their tanks emptied regularly.
Spillage from these tanks then appears to enter water courses. This matter is being dealt with. These transgressions are going to be addressed by tightening up by-laws, fines and possible community service as penalties in some instances.
• Concerns about water supply and usage: the flood and rain damage resulted in pipeline breakages, often along riverbanks and in heavily forested areas. Our average daily water usage escalated from 32Ml (32 million litres) in late November, first to 34-35Ml and from mid-December to 38-40Ml.
The maximum capacity at the existing Old and New Water Treatment Works is 39Ml. Pipe breakages in the Christmas / New Year period were extremely concerning because of the already low levels of the main clean water reservoirs that hold approximately 36 hours of storage at normal pre-November levels.
Bitou and Oudtshoorn municipalities sent water repair teams to assist George municipal teams working through the night to get these lines repaired.
These breakages, combined with usage levels that exceeded treatment capacity on many days, resulted in the clean water reservoirs being almost emptied, having reserve water for only two to three hours' usage. Van Wyk explained that though the Garden Route Dam is full, this untreated water first has to go through certain processes before it reaches our homes as clear tap water.
Water is pumped from the dam to the Water Treatment Works where it is treated (Afrikaans: gesuiwer) before being pumped to reservoirs in the municipal distribution network. The increase in water usage has been 25%.
• George has been awarded an RBIG (Regional Bulk Infrastructure Grant) of R1,17-billion for specific improvements in water infrastructure following an application to National Treasury for a BFI facility (Budget Facility for Infrastructure). This funding will be received over the next 40 months to complete the projects.
The supply chain processes for the projects are already underway and certain works to the value of R82-million have been accelerated into the present financial year that ends in June.
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