Car manufacturers in drought-stricken Nelson Mandela Bay have instituted water management systems to keep their multibillion-rand operations running and mitigate a crisis that threatens the metro’s economy.
Businesses report having being without water for up to seven days at a time. Many have struggled to maintain normal manufacturing operations due to low water pressure, said the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber (NMBBC).
The municipality oversees the provincial economic hub as it is home to manufacturing plants such as Volkswagen SA and Ford. Two of the province’s three ports, Port of Gqeberha and Port of Ngqura, fall under the metro’s jurisdiction.
Shawn Govender, manager at the Ford Struandale engine plant, said the whole of Nelson Mandela Bay is “heavily affected” by the eight-year-old drought, one of the most severe on record for the region.
The combined dam level figure on March 13 was 12.7%, of which only 7.3% was usable.
Load-shedding is worsening the situation, with pump and transfer stations not operating during outages, leading to reservoirs citywide running dry.
“This is leaving many suburbs without water for several days. So it is a dire situation, with no short or medium-term projections of any significant rainfall in sight for the region’s catchment areas,” said Govender.
“Thus far the Ford Struandale engine plant hasn’t been significantly affected, as we have reduced our municipal water usage to an absolute minimum both for our machining operations and for our day-to-day operations. In response to the looming crisis, in 2019 we installed rainwater tanks throughout the plant, with a combined storage capacity of more than 155,000 litres.”
Remains critical
Govender said that through a water management system the harvested water is fed directly into the ablution facilities and used for flushing toilets. “Furthermore, all of the ablutions have been revamped and fitted with the latest water-saving systems that have significantly reduced water usage during flushing and washing,” he said.
“However, the water situation remains critical, and we are working closely with the municipality and the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber to address this crisis, including educating our employees on water-saving measures for the workplace and at home.”
Isuzu Motors SA corporate communications manager Sharné Woods said the car manufacturer takes the water shortage crisis in Gqeberha “very seriously”.
“Though we have not yet been severely affected, we have put in place water-saving initiatives while depending heavily on our backup fire dams and rainwater tanks to catch water when it rains.
“Gqeberha continues to be severely affected by climate change, which has over the past three years resulted in our low water [and] dam levels,” said Woods.
Isuzu Motors SA has put in place water-saving initiatives such as the reuse of treated water from its on-site wastewater treatment facility and collecting rainwater.
“When it rains, we have more than 50,000 litre capacity,” Woods said. The rainwater is used for the flushing of ablutions and for filling the company’s water-test facility, “as well as topping up our fire dam”.
Woods said at the car manufacturer’s paint shop pre-treatment processes, “water is cascaded from the cleaner processes back upstream to the dirtier processes. There is only a requirement to dispose water from the dirtiest processes. We plan to continue investing in our water-saving initiatives to ensure that we reduce our load on municipal reserves.”
Infrastructure vandalism
NMBBC CEO Denise van Huyssteen said the metro faces a “very serious economic crisis” due to the water shortage, coupled with load-shedding and breakages in electricity infrastructure.
Vandalism of key infrastructure is out of control, she said.
“The water crisis is having a detrimental impact upon the operations of businesses and in some instances, businesses have reported periods of no water for up to seven days at a time and in many instances others are struggling to maintain normal manufacturing operations due to low water pressure levels,” Van Huyssteen said.
Big and small businesses are affected by the water crisis, and especially businesses highly reliant on water to produce products or provide services.
Businesses need basics such as water, electricity and sanitation to function to generate investment and jobs.
“Without the basics in place, it is very difficult to justify ongoing investment and to retain existing jobs.
“Our local economy now faces an economic survival emergency with businesses struggling to achieve their required production levels and having to incur additional costs to secure their own or additional water and energy sources,” said Van Huyssteen.
“We remain highly concerned about the state of the water infrastructure as unaccounted water losses now stand at about 44% with more than 34% of these comprising leaks. It is vital that the necessary investment is made into the upgrading and maintenance of infrastructure to ensure that water security can be attained. Reported leaks need to be attended to quickly and effectively. Additionally the vandalism and theft of critical water infrastructure is further worsening the situation,” she said.
Nelson Mandela Bay executive mayor Retief Odendaal said that while the water crisis has been classified as a disaster it has not yet been declared as such.
The R1.2bn the metro has spent on water augmentation and drought-mitigation projects, which added 100 megalitres a day to the system, is “not enough” amid the “most intense drought on record”.
They have started extracting less water from dams in the last few months to prevent Day Zero, when taps runs dry.
Odendaal said the municipality will use the R900m it has received from National Treasury to maintain and upgrade existing infrastructure “to make sure we use less water and address leakages”.
Business Day has previously reported that SA remains a water-scarce country due to insufficient water infrastructure maintenance and investment, and recurrent droughts linked to changing climatic conditions that hamper agricultural output and put many farmers out of business.
The country is also faced with deteriorating water quality and a lack of skilled water engineers, scientists, hydrologists, geohydrologists and resource economists.
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