In addition, recent good rains have pushed out Day Zero, when the taps run dry, to early November.
Switch-over success
Three of University’s campuses – Ocean Sciences, Second Avenue, and North Campus, as recently as last weekend – are presently testing water readiness should Nelson Mandela Metro find itself without water.
Water consumption on North Campus is being closely monitored since, unlike the other two campuses, its borehole water yield will not be able to meet the needs of the campus running at full capacity.
“The supply will be adequate at weekends with fewer numbers on campus. But as the week progresses, it will be a balancing act, using our storage tanks and decreasing consumption to enable continued functioning of North Campus,” says the institution’s sustainability engineer Dr Andre Hefer.
In further positive news, the borehole drilling presently underway on South Campus has yielded good initial results. Three new sites – next to the cricket nets; next to the hockey Astroturf and close to the return effluent plant – will offer a reprieve for the University’s largest campus.
Full results as to the quality and sustainable yield of the water will be known later this month.
As with the other campuses, new piping and a system that allows the institution to switch over from municipal water to borehole water will still need to be priced, sourced, and introduced.
George Campus
A successful meeting was held with the George Municipality to address the present distribution challenges to the George Campus reservoir. This will include daily monitoring of the supply to pro-actively alert authorities as to any possible distribution shortfall.
Save and boil
Despite the good news, you are urged to continue saving water – a scarce resource for Africa – and to boil tap water. The latter was introduced as the request of Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality as it supplemented dwindling supplies with alternative water sources.
Water Crisis Management Team
