More water upon maintenance completion at Lesotho Highlands Water Project

The tunnel system requires general inspections and repair work to be conducted approximately at a 5-year interval, to ensure integrity and reliability of the entire water tunnel system. As a result of the tunnel shutdown, 700 million m3 per annum will be transferred in the current year, resulting in a shortfall of 80 million m3 from the normal annual transfer volume.

Affected municipalities had to implement water restrictions especially to regulate irrigation in their area of operation for the duration of the closure. Some of these regulations restricts water users on the left bank of Ash and Liebenbergsvlei rivers to abstract water for agricultural purposes on intervals, as per permitted days of the week.

Also, the Department of Water and Sanitation embarked on relief interventions for municipalities along the Caledon River, Wilge River, Vaal River and Rhenoster River. This was to intervene on the upgrading of water treatment, upgrading of raw water pumps, upgrading of abstraction works, construction of new reservoirs as well as the development if ground water resources by drilling and equipping boreholes.

Furthermore, DWS together with affected municipalities engaged with communities through their public education programmes, with the aim of encouraging responsible water usage and conservation, more particularly the time of the tunnel closure.

With the summer season in full swing, more rains are expected in the comings months, to fill up the streams and hopefully adequate storage at the water facilities in various municipalities.