KNYSNA NEWS - Knysna municipality, councillors, religious and spiritual leads and residents are set to gather this weekend to pray for desperately needed rain.
The Knysna municipality will be hosting an inter-faith prayer gathering at the Loerie Park stadium on Sunday, June 11 at 15:00.
This prayer session will be led by the mayoral committee member and chairperson of planning and integrated human settlements, who is also a pastor, Shakespeare Arends. He will be joined by Knysna mayor Eleanore Bouw-Spies, councillors and various religious and spiritual leaders from Greater Knysna.
Arends encourages residents to attend this prayer gathering. “I appeal to all our community members to join us on Sunday as we pray for much-needed rain. The prayer will be conducted in three official languages.
“I thank all residents and businesses who have made great effort to save water. We still need to reduce consumption and need rain."
The municipality announced Level 3 water restrictions with immediate effect on March 22.
The latest water statistics (May 29 to June 5) indicate that the Akkerkloof dam is 36% full, which translates to 27 days of water on current consumption. Knysna’s consumption is 11.47Ml/day whereas the target is 10Ml/day.
Sedgefield is 2Ml/day with a target of 1.9Ml/day.
Western Cape declared a disaster area
This call for prayer comes two weeks after Premier of the Western Cape Helen Zille officially declared the Western Cape a disaster area in response to the province’s current drought crisis – the worst since 1904 according to Zille’s office.
According to a statement issued by her office, the disaster will be classified for a three-month period which can be extended, if the need arises.
“The disaster declaration will accelerate the Western Cape Disaster Management Centre’s Project ‘Avoiding Day Zero’, the Province’s strategy to ensure that taps do not run dry,” said Zille.
During such a classification, the Disaster Management Act empowers the provincial government to protect key frontline service delivery points by reprioritising funding.
1. Demand management – managing the current water supply from the respective sources;
2. Winter conservation – ensuring that water resources are properly managed, despite a rise in dam levels during the rainy season. This avoids a disaster during the dry months
3. Groundwater management – ensuring the proper management of groundwater sources like boreholes or the Table Mountain aquifer.
The statement by Zille’s office also listed some immediate interventions that the provincial government can take/make in coming weeks, two of which could directly influence Knysna, Plettenberg Bay and Sedgefield:
• Appointing groundwater specialists in each district. The specialists will identify main ground water sources and coordinate the exploration and management of these resources going forward.
• Assessing state of water restrictions in the respective municipalities – while local councils remain responsible for making area-specific decisions, the disaster declaration enables the Province to issue instructions for any changes to these restrictions that may be necessary in each locality.
Currently, the Greater Knysna (including Sedgefield) finds itself under level 3 water restrictions, while Bitou finds itself under level 1 water restrictions.
The statement further said that the government wanted to assure the public that the declaration is no cause to panic. “A disaster declaration enhances control by affording the Province additional powers of intervention,” it said.
It urged all residents to continue with the current water saving measures and to adhere to restrictions imposed in their respective municipalities. “While it remains a cause for concern, we believe the current drought is an opportunity to innovate and act responsibly in the way we make use of our water resources,” it concluded.
ARTICLE: STEFAN GOOSEN, KNYSNA-PLETT HERALD JOURNALIST
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