Despite boasting some of the biggest rivers and countless smaller streams, hordes of residents in Port St Johns, dubbed the “Crown Jewel of the Wild Coast”, are buckling under the strain of acute water shortages.
Some of the affected residents have taps in their villages but many claim they have been dry for more than a decade.
But there could finally be light at the end of a tunnel for many rural villagers after OR Tambo district municipal bosses announced this week they had allocated nearly R4m to drill about 15 new boreholes as part of a groundwater development project in the 2024/2025 financial year starting in July.
The announcement comes on the back of draft IDP and budget roadshows currently being conducted around the district by OR Tambo municipal authorities.
The targeted areas will be villages which do not have any existing bulk infrastructure for water supply, district municipal spokesperson Zimkhita Macingwane said.
The district authority, appointed by cabinet as water service provider in Port St Johns, King Sabata Dalindyebo, Nyandeni, Ingquza Hill and Mhlontlo local municipalities in 2003, will also invest more than R10.4m towards upgrading PSJ’s waste water treatment works plant in the next financial year.
Macingwane revealed that R9.5m would be set aside for upgrading the town’s regional water supply scheme in ward 12 as part of phase 6 of a project to bring clean potable water to communities in the area.
When quizzed about the planned boreholes, Macingwane said: “Groundwater allows us to make immediate interventions to the areas that do not have already existing bulk infrastructure for water supply.
“Groundwater is easily accessible while rivers have a long process of water use licence authorisation (WULA) from the department of water and sanitation.”
She said at least 10 villages would benefit from 15 boreholes to be drilled.
She said areas that already had infrastructure but non-functional water schemes were addressed through refurbishments and repairs.
The PSJ regional water scheme would service about 20 villages once the upgrades are completed while the town’s wastewater treatment plant would supply water to the town, Naval Hill, Mtumbane, Second Beach, Mpantu and several other areas once fully constructed.
Last week, disillusioned residents of Cwebeni, Hlamvana and Bholani villages threatened not to go to the May 29 polls, saying they had been forced to live like animals as they shared dirty water sources, including streams and natural ponds, with pigs, dogs and cows.
In Cwebeni, taps installed by the government have been dry since 2013 according to residents.
In Hlamvana, residents have not tasted clean tap water in almost 15 years, despite also having water taps erected in the village.
In Bholani, villagers reportedly still have to walk long distances to fetch water from dirty and polluted rivers despite also having taps near their homes, which have been dry for many years.
Macingwane told the Dispatch last week that Cwebeni was supplied with clean drinking water by the Port St Johns water treatment works plant.
But since the village was located at the dead end of the reticulation network, the plant was battling to meet the demand due to the rapid expansion of the urban part of the town in recent years.
Illegal connections to the main supply network had also damaged the distribution system.
She said high demand and ageing infrastructure were also to blame and that OR Tambo district municipality was rationing and periodically carting water to Cwebeni.
But Cwebeni resident Nosalathiso Petshana dismissed Macingwane’s claims, saying the village last had clean water in 2013.
Port St Johns Business Chamber chair Nzamela Ncoyini, who runs a piggery and poultry farm in one of the rural villages in the area, confirmed that many villagers were buckling under the strain of severe water shortages.
However, he said it was not fair that only villages without water infrastructure would be assisted with boreholes.
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