The latest readings at Middelburg Dam was 43% – a critically low level that would put all residents in a dire situation if it does not rain soon.<\/p>\n
The past two years have been regarded as the driest in years with many areas around the country already facing the worst drought in decades. These include areas in Natal and the Free State where taps have run dry.<\/p>\n
Middelburg could be next as the dwindling water supply reaches critical lows.<\/p>\n
Speaking to www.mobserver.co.za<\/b>, Editor of Kroon Nuus, Ms Tharine Hurter, said that the situation in Kroonstad is unbearable.<\/p>\n
The town has been without water for more than 16 weeks and more than 190 000 people within the Moqhaka Municipality rely on on water tankers that deliver water to the town up to three times a day.<\/p>\n
The water is filled into JoJo tanks, from which the community fills their own containers upon collection.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur daily demand is 35 Million litres of water, but at the moment we only receive 1 Million litres of water. People are forced to make due with the little they get,\u201d said Ms Hurter. \u201cThe entire sewer system cannot function properly and there are several maintenance problems\u201d.<\/p>\n
The biggest hurdle for residents is water for domestic use, such as washing, cleaning, and bathing.<\/p>\n
Ms Hurter stated that the entire situation started with mismanagement and the inability of the Moqhaka municipality to maintain basic systems such as pumps.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the dam was kept to capacity it has the ability to provide water to the entire community for up to two years But this was never done.<\/p>\n
Even when it rained, there was no effort to collect water through a pump system. Instead, all that water was lost,\u201d said Ms Hurter.<\/p>\n
Despite the massive challenge to the Kroonstad community living in such harsh conditions, Ms Hurter said that people have had no choice but to become self-reliant and help each other where they can.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere’s a spirit of Ubuntu in the community. People are helping each other. Residents with boreholes and generously sharing as much as they can and surrounding farmers are assisting numerous institutions, such as Old Age Homes,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Ms Hurter also commended the sterling work by Middelburg resident Caroline Van Saasen of Water Shortage South Africa, who works tirelessly in ensuring drinkable and tank water reaches communities all over the country that have been hit by severe water shortages.<\/p>\n
Other towns in desperate need of drinking water and tank water include Vryheid, Koffiefontein, Fauresmith, Rooigrond, Sannieshof and Delareyville.<\/p>\n
Read other stories here:<\/p>\n
Water supply to Midmed reaches critically low levels<\/a><\/p>\n Municipal workers remain on strike<\/a><\/p>\n (Breaking News) Video: Flames, threats as municipal workers rampage<\/a><\/p>\n Video: Pepper spray, threats, as traffic officers go on strike<\/a><\/p>\n Update: \u2018Law enforcers lawless\u2019 MM says<\/a><\/p>\n Send a message to our SMS line 33658 or add us onto Facebook<\/a> and Twitter<\/a> @Mobserv<\/a> to receive your free daily news updates. You can also WhatsApp us on this number 079\u00a0426 1396<\/p>\n Also check out our Video\u2019s<\/a> on Youtube<\/a> daily!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Water levels in Middelburg continue to drop as residents are still being urged to use water wisely and save wherever you can. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2844,"featured_media":50834,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"hasGravity":false,"cxt_article_byline":"Yaseen Gaffar","cxt_disable_google_ads":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news-headlines"],"category_labels":{"Category":"News","SubCategory":"Local news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2844"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54165\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}