The Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation, Lindiwe Sisulu, has called on the residents of Limpopo and Eastern Cape to reduce their water use drastically after the two provinces dropped their dam levels to an alarming 52%  each this week.

The latest weekly report on dam levels shows that dams across the country are dropping their levels at an average 1% week-on-week.

“In the absence of rain, water conservation across the board must be intensified to avoid municipalities imposing stringent water restrictions”, said Sisulu.

Recent high temperatures in most parts of the country are believed to have had a negative impact on the country’s dam levels which have since dropped from 65,7% to 64,8%.

Minister says that the only saving grace, is the 20 752,8 cubic metres of water in storage facilities, which will to sustain South Africa until the next rains.

Minister Sisulu has also appealed to Gauteng residents including business community to use water sparingly during the two month maintenance of the tunnel system of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) which started on 01 October 2019.

The Minister has directed the Acting Director-General for Water and Sanitation, Mr Mbulelo Tshangana and the CEOs of all affected Water Boards to ensure that the maintenance is done within the time frame and directed that all affected stakeholders are kept informed of all the developments.

Minister Sisulu also emphasized the importance for every citizen to participate in water conservation, in order to save the little water at the country’s disposal.