Nelson Mandela Bay is on the brink of being declared a disaster area
Nelson Mandela Bay is on the brink of being declared a disaster area with the city’s overall dam levels sitting at a combined capacity of 49.71% despite strict water restrictions currently in place. The municipality’s executive director of infrastructure and engineering, Walter Shaidi, raised the alarm on Friday that the metro’s water crisis was worsening by the day and would continue if there was no drastic intervention. "Our dam levels are now at 49%. As soon as we go under 40%, we are going to be declared a disaster area," Shaidi said. "We have to cut our usage. "Our target for this municipality is to use 250 mega litres (ML) a day but we are using between 290 to 303 ML; we are way over," Shaidi said. The city’s political head of infrastructure, engineering and energy, councillor Annette Lovemore, said earlier this month that should the overall average dam levels drop below 50%, the municipality would be forced to implement tougher water restrictions.
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