Call for assistance as Knysna water crisis reaches critical stage

The Garden Route water crisis is deepening as Knysna has only 10 days of water storage left.

MEC for Local Government Anton Bredell said while the municipality plans to drill seven new boreholes over the next month, the town needs immediate water relief.

ALSO READ: Knysna faces looming ‘Day Zero’ as water supplies dwindle

Bredell added that having a state of disaster declared will assist in expediting the process of getting boreholes onto the system.

He added that the national assistance will also help farmers in the region.

"In Knysna, now we need to put the engineers and geohydrologists. They've got the seven balls now to put pumps on it. That's normally a process that will take you two, three months. We want to do it in seven days. And the declaration will help you with those kinds of decisions to fast-track these systems, etc. That's the big benefit of that decision."

Bredell is calling on residents of Knysna to reduce water consumption to 50 litres per person per day.

He added that the aim is to integrate lessons learned in Cape Town's Day Zero, adding that Capetonians today use less water than in 2015, despite a 27% population growth.

"We need to get residents to work with us, especially in the areas of Nice, Napleton, those areas. If the residents can reduce their water consumption to 50 litres per person per day, then we will pull through."