Update

KNYSNA NEWS - Work underway to repair pumps has eased Knysna's water crisis and averted the immediate threat to its supply.

The efforts, which include fixing a pipe leak, have ensured that the Knysna Oyster Festival will be unaffected.

Maintenance to pumps at the Charlesford Pump Station, from where, when fully operational, water from the Knysna River is pumped directly to treatment works in Knysna, is expected to be concluded soon.

In addition, repairs are being made to the Glebe Dam's pump station, from where water reaches the Akkerkloof Dam, Knysna's supply dam, whose dwindling level of capacity has created alarm among residents and councillors.

Yesterday, Thursday 20 June, the Greater Knysna Business Chamber released a statement detailing the assistance it is providing Knysna Municipality to solve problems on the water supply network.

Chamber statement in full

"The Greater Knysna Business Chamber (GKBC) is aware of the water problems in Knysna and, through its Infrastructure Committee (a group of volunteers), is working very closely with the Knysna Local Municipality (KLM) to address the issues.
The GKBC Infrastructure Committee, comprising residents and volunteer organisations, stepped in to aid the municipality's understaffed and sometimes underfunded technical department.

“Lack of water for communities is a serious situation and we as the Chamber together with the Knysna Municipality's department of water works are indeed taking this seriously. On the eve of the Knysna Oyster Festival 2024 this is even more prominent, and we are treating this with the seriousness it deserves,“ said Jan H vd Westhuizen, Chairperson of the GKBC.
The GKBC Infrastructure Committee has liaised with KLM technical department to identify critical repair needs, provide resources, and collaborate closely with all parties. 

Their efforts included removing concrete encasing on the main pipeline to facilitate repairs, repairing valves, replacing the blanking plate at the dam intake with a sieve, and current repairs to the Glebe Pump Station to assist resolving the water shortage.

This existential crisis has persisted for over two years, necessitating the group's intervention. Their instrumental support serves as a critical lifeline to the severely underfunded Knysna Municipality technical teams that are grappling with a 58% staff vacancy rate. These teams often work overtime without compensation to maintain the town's infrastructure, constantly battling to fix outdated systems in dire need of replacement.

The committee’s hands-on role in bolstering these overstretched teams, coupled with the lack of political will, underscores the community's goodwill amidst divisive political infighting.

We however need to set the record straight for the readers and give some clarity on recent social media posts regarding the Knysna water situation. Knysna’s main water supply is the Knysna River and not the Akkerkloof Dam. The Knysna River currently has sufficient water to supply in Knysna’s demand, given pumps at Charlesford Pump Station (3,000 liters per second) and Eastford are fully operational. The Akkerkloof Dam is for storage purposes in case of drought or in case of peak water demand during school holidays/festivals.

Water for more than the normal daily demand is pumped to the Akkerkloof Dam. At 50% the Akkerkloof Dam can supply Knysna for 18 days, which would be sufficient in case of an emergency on the Charlesford line.
Current issues of the insufficient pump facilities at Charlesford Pump Station are being addressed, and this will allow us to pump at 300 l/s to a smaller balancing dam and then to the water works. We also pump from both the Gouna River and Knysna River into the balancing dam. The balancing dam also pumps water to Akkerkloof Dam. Finally, we also pump water from Glebe Dam to Akkerkloof Dam.

Our biggest pump station, Charlesford, requires 3 pumps and recently only one pump was running, which is a reason of concern that we are addressing. At the Eastford Pump Station, only 2 pumps out of 4 were running due to the flow from Charlesford Pump Station.

In terms of the timeline, we will have the pipe break from Eastford Pump Station fixed by this afternoon (Thursday 20 June) or latest early morning of 21 June. We can set the pump to obtain around 200l/s.

We are awaiting the second pump for Charlesford Pump Station and the motor for the jet engine for Glebe Dam to have operations back to normal.

By tomorrow (Friday 21 June) we can pump more water from the Knysna River to the Akkerkloof Dam and over the weekend the additional pump issue (installation and operating) will be resolved.

We assure residents and visitors that the water situation is being addressed and GKBC and KLM are working hand in hand to address any fluctuations.

We wish you all a very happy Knysna Oyster Festival 2024," the release concludes.

Municipality responds

KPH asked the municipality to comment on the low level of capacity at Akkerkloof Dam, on an overflowing reservoir at Eastford Country Estate in Ward 10 as well as on water running through a property in Milkwood Drive in the ward. This is the response:

"As of 18 June, the Akkerkloof Dam is currently at 12,5% capacity. The reservoir in Eastford overflows due to the malfunctioning of the electronics, necessitating the bypassing of certain controls and resulting in manual operation of the system. The required parts will be ordered and repairs will be carried out as soon as the budget allows. We will investigate the cause of the reservoir overflow and implement appropriate measures. We will also ensure that the telemetry system is fully operational in the new building. The control system was vandalised and the property in Milkwood Drive may have been directly affected. The repairs require the installation of new infrastructure. We always strive to fix leaks as promptly as possible, based on our available human resources and overtime hours."

‘We bring you the latest Garden Route, Hessequa, Karoo news’