The Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber is relaunching its Adopt A School initiative as an urgent intervention to slow the rapid and ongoing loss of water in a metro, which is once again edging towards a potential water management crisis. Overall dam levels have rapidly dropped below the critical 50% mark, with only 39.75% of usable water currently available.
This decline in available water is not driven by declining dam levels alone, but also by unaccounted water losses of well over 50% caused by the lack of maintenance of water infrastructure and leaks which is costing the metro millions of litres of treated water every day, as well as meter tampering, inadequate security at pumpstations, water billing and other technical issues.
Another key contributing factor is the increased water usage levels of consumers which is trending in the wrong direction, currently tracking at 384 MLD versus the target of 280 MLD. “That’s over 100 MLD over-target and is clearly unsustainable. Nelson Mandela Bay is a water scare area, and consumers should, on an ongoing basis, be ensuring that they are actively reusing, recycling and conserving water,” said Denise van Huyssteen, Chief Executive Officer of the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber.
The situation is being compounded by extreme heat conditions, with Nelson Mandela Bay experiencing a series of runaway fires that have placed further pressure on an already fragile water system. “The reality is that we are watching dam levels drop while simultaneously needing water for firefighting,” Van Huyssteen said. “This convergence should be setting off alarm bells across every level of leadership in the metro.”
Van Huyssteen said the metro city cannot afford to repeat the mistakes of the past. “Just three years ago, Nelson Mandela Bay came dangerously close to running dry. It is deeply concerning that there has not been a sustained and escalated focus on protecting water security since then by both the Municipality and consumers,” she said. “Safeguarding water requires constant vigilance, preventative maintenance and aggressive leak repairs, yet nearly half of the metro’s water remains unaccounted for.”
She said the ongoing loss of millions of litres of water each day is financially reckless, environmentally damaging and fundamentally unsustainable. “Preventative maintenance should be the norm, not the exception. Every litre lost today brings us closer to another crisis tomorrow. While the Municipality has a responsibility to address leaks on its infrastructure, businesses and consumers also have a responsibility to fix their own leaks and reduce their water consumption levels”
The Chamber launched its Adopt A School initiative a couple of years ago, which saw 76 schools adopted by 18 businesses across the metro. The programme focused on repairing faulty plumbing systems, fixing water leaks and installing rainwater harvesting measures. It formed part of broader metro wide water preservation efforts to rein in water losses at schools and clinics due to leaks, which at the time contributed approximately 10% to the Bay’s total water losses. “We have decided to re-launch this initiative, with the focus on schools which previously may have formed part of this as well as other high water-user schools. The focus will once again be on leak repairs and water conservation. To this end, we will be appealing to our members to come on board to support this critical effort to safeguard our water supply.”
The Chamber is also keen to re-ignite its Adopt A Leak programme which played a vital role during the 2021 water management crisis, and to this end will also be aiming to source funding to enable this.
The Adopt A Leak programme, which was run by the Chamber through the support of its members to put the spotlight on addressing water losses. During that period, local businesses voluntarily funded repairs in the targeted seven impoverished areas, which represented the highest concentration of leaks. This resulted in leaks being repaired at more than 4 200 households, saving approximately 1.6 million litres of water per day and achieving a 23% reduction in water consumption across these areas of the metro.
“That programme showed what is possible when urgency, accountability and collaboration come together,” Van Huyssteen said. “It delivered real impact in a short space of time because it was targeted, measured and action-driven.”
She said the Chamber has shared lessons and best practices from these initiatives, and continues to encourage their adoption by the various stakeholders to ensure faster and higher-impact leak reduction across the metro. “We measured success in litres saved, and that focus made all the difference.”
Van Huyssteen said the Chamber is calling on the Municipality to urgently accelerate its efforts to rein in unaccounted water losses, and for businesses and residents to act immediately and responsibly to save water. “Fix leaks, use water sparingly and invest in water-saving solutions such as rainwater harvesting, greywater reuse and efficient technologies,” she said. “Waiting for water availability to reach crisis levels before changing behaviour is a risk our metro cannot afford.”
She cautioned strongly against complacency. “The dams may not be empty today, but levels are declining rapidly while millions of litres of water every day is being lost. The long-term cost of doing nothing is far greater than the cost of acting now.”
The Chamber maintains that Nelson Mandela Bay remains the most fixable metro in the country, and has tremendous potential to grow. To achieve this, however requires action orientated multi-stakeholder collaboration. “The relaunch of Adopt A School and potentially Adopt A Leak is not symbolic,” Van Huyssteen said. “It is a direct call for immediate, collective action to secure our most critical resource and protect the future of this metro.”
