KNYSNA NEWS - The WhatsApp group 'Garden Route Climate Intelligence Network' has raised concerns about a data gap affecting the Vodacom-powered Digital Water Tower Dashboard. This comes after the dashboard's failure to provide new daily data for Akkerkloof Dam since 8 September.
The dashboard, launched by Knysna Municipality last week, includes a 'Daily Data' section. However, the latest available reading for Akkerkloof, on 8 September, recorded the dam at 69.9%.
The network said the absence of updated information means it has lost visibility of current conditions at the storage dam. "If sporadic reporting continues, we will need to switch to satellite data to determine what is happening to this storage dam," the network said. It noted that rainfall from the past week was still moving through the river system, with the current risk status described as 'Stable but Fragile' as the flow trend begins to weaken.
According to the network, conditions remain favourable for water extraction, but the lack of updated dashboard data makes monitoring more difficult. It also said the municipality had stopped sharing the Department of Water and Sanitation dashboard, which previously provided extraction insights. The network said it would revert to satellite tracking to monitor changes in the dam's storage trend, although this cannot provide an actual storage percentage.
Dashboard development 'ongoing'
Responding to the concerns, Mpumelelo Nzuzo, Acting Director: Infrastructure Services, said the Digital Water Tower Dashboard was intended to provide residents with greater visibility of the municipality's water situation and support the monitoring of water consumption and supply trends. However, he said, the development of the dashboard and the resolution of technical issues are still ongoing.
The water balance is currently updated monthly, with the municipality tracking trends using data provided manually by the Water Department. The municipality is working towards providing these updates weekly. He said that Vodacom and Mezzanine would continue supporting the implementation and further development of the platform alongside the municipality.
"In the longer term, once the relevant data is automatically captured and supplied, the dashboard will be able to provide daily updates, allowing for more frequent and current information on the municipality's water position," said Nzuzo.
The latest updates are available on the municipality's Digital Water Tower Dashboard.
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