Water Shortage in Town (Again)

[Michael Alexander]

Here is a notice:

"WATER SUPPLY DISRUPTION

Residents are informed that we have had low water levels in our reservoirs since this morning and the situation has not improved. This requires us to employ conservation measures one of which will be switching off the Booster pumps at strategic times of the day. Regrettably this will cause water supply shortages in town especially in the high areas.

This time of the year the river level is low and it affects the levels at Felhmann well which supplies the bulk of water in town. We encourage residents to use water sparingly as we build the reservoir levels to acceptable levels. "

[Michael Alexander]

What a lot of tosh.... Who on earth believes this fairytale....

1st of all..... why would the Namibian Gov and South AfricAn Govs be developing plans to construct dams on just upriver from us on the lower Orange River if there was so little water.....?

2nd of all , Heard that, the resevoirs have problems and are actually full of sludge...One person even reckons that about a 3rd of the resevoirs capacity is just sludge and needs to be cleaned out....

3rd of all, anyone who understands geography and the flow of rivers will tell you, that up to 6 times the waterflow of a river actually flows beneath the ground and that sparkling water that you see ontop of the ground is a mere 20% of what actually is flowing under it.... So..... our water does not come from the surface area but from wells that go into the actual water table...

So, it is of my uneducated opinion, that this is just an excuse for a failing system...... AND THAT IS JUST MY 2 cents worth....

[Michael Alexander]

Roll on municipality.........

I guess I am just pissed coz I cannot get my lawn watered....as I must be living in a "high" area.....

[Andrew Darné]

This topic was covered previously in another thread on this forum.
The reservoirs could not possibly a third full of sludge or you would be drinking it... outlet from the Swartkops dams that freeflow to town is near the bottom of the dam, the booster station dams are the same. Yes the dams @ Skops used to be drained over December and cleaned out; they usually the worst as it is first settlement point for those black floaty bits you sometimes see in the water. Town reservoirs at the boosters are usually done 1 at a time as they used to be able to isolate them individually (methinks) and timing wasn't such an issue. Gerald from Plower pot could confirm this.
The snag I have noticed is that half the riverbank borehole pumps are out, or the boreholes have been closed down. I still don't understand why they don't get a bloke in to revamp them and get them back online. I am also aware that there were problems with the Fellman Well pumps; age and the cost of overhaul vs replacement.

I agree with you Mike... pissed at having to jump around from drop to drop to get wet in the shower; pressure is so low that the hot water doesn't flow from the geyser, so cold shower (rain dance).
You have to do your laundry at night as there is not enough pressure for auto washing machines to let water in.
Imunicipality are going to have an absolutely wonderful time trying to provide the necessary service (standard)... seriiaas!!!

[Michael Alexander]

@Andy, but what get's my back up, is why tell us tosh about the water level being low, instead of being man about it and saying, well our infrastructure ain't up to scratch.....

[toonfandangl]

"WATER SUPPLY DISRUPTION"

Methinks this is an excuse to drink BEER....................... .. ..

[Michael Alexander]

Well it's 31 degrees today in Omund and I just walked pass a one horned gemsbok, so it is indeed a beer day... 

[Charles Scheepers]

Couldn't our rusty plumbing system be the problem...Ever since the huge pipe burst at the school and other places, the pressure has been low. Me think they scared to start all the booster pumps....."Fountinmund." I suggest we all build water towers in the backyard. 

[Andrew Darné]

@Charles, gladdie 'n k*k idee nie... excuse the pun... 'n lekker hoë ene then you instal a straight flush for the bog. Not only the fresh water that's up to crap... the loo is too!!!

[toonfandangl]

That's not a bad idea water tanks!!........ I understand the amount of rain you get, but you do get the run off from the mists you have there. All new houses built in OZ must include a rainwater tank most with a capacity of 10.000 gals. The water is not used for drinking unless that's the only water supply you have, its mainly used for toilets, washing machines, and gardening.... We get visitor's from overseas that are amused at the duel flush system in our toilets. There was a saying here years ago "If its yellow let it mellow if its brown flush it down" I know I am talking s*** again, but anyway the Aussie's got there act together, well its one of the driest Continent in the world.


                                                                                                                 

[SandyB]

Frank it all makes  so much sense ...  I got my bathwater pumped up to tanks on the roof and feeding the toilet cistern ,, and rainwater harvesting ... every bit helps ...

[Rhona]

Water shortage in my house too - trying to cook and clean with bottled water; think I'll just drink beer 

[Andrew Darné]

@ Frank... dual flush ironically not such a new thing but yes funny if you haven't been there before.
I recall living in Randburg (Transvaal) during the drought of the early 80's and we installed a dual flush back then already.
I think the tanks would work... even connected to the "municipal" supply, your water comes through the tank and when there is no supply you still have the volume of the tank as a back up.

[toonfandangl]

The tanks today are made of all different compositions 'ie' Polyethylene and Concrete to name a few, you maybe able to top up the tanks when water is plentiful, that's assuming you are not charged for your water. I think all states in Australia charge for water, we have water meters, and here were I live its $1:37 per kilolitre. I can remember in the UK around the mid seventies we were in drought (they even appointed a minister for water) we were told to put a brick in the toilet system to reduce the volume of water, so arriving in OZ in the late seventies, and seeing what they did here made a lot of sense.

Funny though I was over in America last year and they don't seem worried about water especially toilet flushing. Their toilets bowls are not the same as ours,... the bowls are wider at the top, and the water fills to three quarters of the way up...... Its OK for females but for us fellas it seems that your tackle could get involved with what ever you had deposited     (OK! OK! I know I'm talking Crap again) and its a bit disconcerting seeing the goldfish floating so near the surface.

Water tanks are the way to go, water covers about 70% of the earths surface and about 2:5% is freshwater and most of that is in Ice.

                                                                                                 

[SandyB]

We  always apid for wter here in SA ,, there is a free allowance applied to all metered and connected , this to accomodate the disadvantaged , then  one starts paying ,, the tarrif rising in 3 to 4  increments  according to usage ,,,  so if one is a heavy user then one  ends up paying an  escalating higher rate ...