PLETTENBERG BAY NEWS - Thanks to the heavy rain in the Bitou area in the past two months, water restrictions in Plettenberg Bay seem to be a thing of the past.
Bitou Council will today, Thursday 29 June, in all likelihood lift the restrictions with immediate effect, in terms of a recommendation by Victor Felton, Bitou Director of Engineering Services.
Bitou Municipality imposed water restrictions on 6 February under Notice Number 54/2023 due to below-average seasonal rainfall and operational requirements, including the implementation of load shedding, Felton states in the relevant agenda item.
Felton's report said operational issues of concern were also addressed and alleviated with the arrival of the new engine for the generator at the Keurbooms River raw water abstraction pump station.
Dam overflows
On Monday 12 June, the level of the Roodefontein Dam was at 84,96% due to welcome rainfall in the area during May.
This week the dam was 102% full, following extensive rainfall not only in Bitou, but over the Western, Eastern and Northern Cape provinces.
Peter Pyke, a Plettenberg Bay civil engineer specialising in water resource management, said predictions of an El Nino weather phenomenon, which brings drier weather to South Africa, had not yet materialised. However, the La Nina, or wetter phenomenon, is persisting.
Pyke said recent rains were good for the Roodefontein Dam. Because all farm dams in the catchment area are currently full, more water is flowing into Roodefontein.
Plett's main water source is still the Keurbooms River.
The water restrictions in Plett were a precautionary measure implemented because of the then level of the Roodefontein Dam, non-functioning of boreholes in the Keurbooms River and the malfunctioning of a diesel engine at the Keurbooms pump station.
Pyke said major rains in the Western Cape had meant that dams such as the Clanwilliam Dam, Theewaterskloof and Wemmershoek had filled up earlier in the winter season than in previous years.
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