Gift of the Givers brings aid to parched Beaufort West
The Beaufort West Municipality is considering asking for water donations from travellers.
CAPE TOWN - Relief aid group Gift of the Givers is doing its bit to the help the parched town of Beaufort West.
The Karoo town's dam has run dry.
Residents are now relying on boreholes and treated sewage water.
Gift of the Givers has taken on the services of a hydrologist who's been tasked with sourcing more groundwater.
The group's Imtiaz Sooliman explains: “We did find water. Right now, we have 420,000 litres per day. That borehole should be fully functional today. We are looking at more boreholes for at least 1 million litres of water a day, so that the whole town can be fed.”
In a statement, Gift of the Givers says it's also looking at interventions in Vredendal as the town has been severely affected.
It adds that relief workers have delivered truck loads of animal fodder to Vredendal and provided food parcels to 3,000 farm workers in the area.
At the same time, the Beaufort West Municipality is considering asking for water donations from travellers.
The town's already strained water sources will come under further pressure over the upcoming festive season.
Municipal manager Kosie Haarhoff has reiterated while the situation is dire, there is a plan in place.
“We are setting up a task team to look at a connection to the Gariep Dam. The set-up costs will be very high, but if we can get connected to the Gariep Dam in Colesburg, that can help us for the next couple of years to ensure Beaufort West has enough water.”
GETTING INVOLVED
Gift of the Givers has called on corporates wanting to get involved in its water intervention project to contact them.
Those wanting to contribute to boreholes and the provision of bottled water are welcome to participate.
Toll free number: 0800 786 777
Email: sooliman@giftofthegivers.org
CAPE TOWN DAMS
Meanwhile, dam levels continue to drop in Cape Town. They are now sitting at just over 36%.
Recent strong winds and hot temperatures have caused a decline of about one percent in dam levels over the past several days.
The City of Cape Town says that collective daily water usage is at 582 million litres, which is still 82 million litres above the target.
(Edited by Shimoney Regter)
