Residents say they are used to the taps running dry, but how long will Day Zero last?
By Joseph Chirume
The drought-stricken Kouga Municipality in the Eastern Cape is trying to avoid ‘Day Zero’ when the taps will run dry. But for many residents it is business as usual.
Residents of Hankey and Patensie in the Gamtoos River Valley are facing one of the worst droughts in the history of the area. The Kouga Dam is less than 10% full and Mayor Elza Van Lingen has said the municipality will have to cut water supplies in mid-March if dam levels keep falling.
But at the Hankey taxi rank last week, it was business as usual, with taxi drivers washing their taxis using tap water.
A taxi driver, who did not want to be named, said residents were accustomed to water cuts during the annual maintenance of the Gamtoos irrigation scheme. “There is nothing new with water cuts. The only difference now is that we hear a new word – Day Zero. Every year this town has a period lasting a week or two when water supply in the whole town is shut [off]. The municipality brings water to residents in trucks and we collect it from designated points using containers. Nothing is new with us here.”