Overstrand Municipality is once again reminding residents that the water infrastructure may take another 2 – 3 weeks to recover fully after last week’s storm.

By now, all areas within the Greater Hermanus, have been affected by dry taps.

Although there are some areas where water has been restored, areas like Voëlklip and Kwaaiwater used to have water because the two reservoirs situated in Voëlklip, had water in them during and after the storm. These reservoirs have now run dry and the inlet from Preekstoel is not sufficient to compensate for the water usage as residents are not taking heed of the urgent call to use less water.

The engineers will direct water through the night to these two reservoirs – but that will mean that the reservoirs west of Preekstoel Water Treatment Works would not get water during the night, resulting in low water pressure tomorrow when pumping will be redirected to this area again. We need to do this to ensure that we provide water to all residents in the Greater Hermanus.

So; this is a catch 22 situation; there are those who are still irrigating, washing cars and doing laundry with Municipal water. Please flush toilets ONLY when absolutely necessary.

For now, the water situation remains critical so please be considerate and restrict water use for essential purposes. The quicker we can fill the lines and the reservoirs the less time it will take to return back to normal.