Parts of South Africa’s Western Cape Province have been classified as local disaster areas due to drought, the provincial local government, environmental affairs and development planning department said on Thursday.
“The Eden District is still gripped by a serious drought,” provincial minister for the department Anton Bredell said in a statement.
“The National Disaster Management Centre has classified the drought as a disaster,” he said.
In this regard, Mossel Bay, George, Knysna and Bitou have been declared local disaster areas, he said, adding that although it had rained in the past two weeks, rainfall remained at a historic low.
“There is no immediate relief in sight as the forecast for the next three months is for hot, dry weather,” he said.
Bredell said one of the measures to try to solve the water shortage was to cut water consumption by increasing the price of water.
“The national Minister of Finance, Mr. Pravin Gordhan, this week authorized the implementation of emergency water tariffs for the coastal municipalities in the Eden District…
“In addition, the department of water affairs is in the process of introducing water restrictions for agricultural water users,” he said.
Source African Press Agency
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