Durban - As the drought tightens its grip on KwaZulu-Natal, some farmers in Zululand are describing it as the worst in 150 years.
The local sugar industry estimates monetary losses of R1.7 billion over the past two seasons and is predicting up to 37 000 job losses because of the latest crop failures.
The southern section of the uMfolozi River stopped flowing at the beginning of June, sparking a major water crisis in Mtubatuba and the St Lucia village tourism resort that has just emerged from three weeks without piped water.
The water level of Lake St Lucia is dropping steadily. Because of evaporation and lack of river flow, water in the northern section is now again saltier than the sea.
Lake Sibaya, close to the Mozambique border, which is fed almost completely by groundwater, has also shrunk to very low levels.
SA Cane Growers Association director, Dr Kathy Hurly, said sugar farmers in the Felixton area were talking about the worst drought in 150 years, while closer to Durban they were describing it as the worst in 100 years.
“I never really used to believe in climate change. We may get floods next year, but if you look at the declining rainfall figures over the past 30 years there is definitely something happening along parts of the East Coast.
“This is the second bad year we have had.
“A lot of farmers are baling whatever remains of their crops to feed to their animals... Some cane farmers will not be able to deliver anything this year.
“How one averts a disaster I don’t know. You can’t just throw money at the problem. What we need is good rain,” she said.
St Lucia Ratepayers Association chairman Rudi Redinger said the uMfolozi River ran dry on June 1.
“That has never happened before, so we had to get special machinery to dig a 3m deep trench in the dry river bed to access water.”
Another large borehole had been sunk and at least two new reservoirs had been built to improve the water supply. Even so, there was still a bottleneck to supply enough water to St Lucia village which was now receiving water again after almost three weeks of no piped water.
Vandalism
The drought crisis had been exacerbated by a new metal pipeline to the town being vandalised.
Redinger said that because the uMkhanyakude District Municipality had failed to install any tap points along the route, villagers from Dukuduku and Khula settlements had resorted to breaking valves to get water.
The municipality then shut off the pipeline for three weeks to halt any further loss.
At their own cost, ratepayers installed 10 new taps along the route. Once this was completed, Redinger said, he had to fetch a municipal technician from Mtubatuba to switch on the pipeline again.
“So we saved the water and everyone is happy now,” said Redinger, acknowledging that water was still available only for two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening.
Redinger insisted that tourism was still going “really well”, although a local lodge owner said he was spending most of the day carting water from a borehole to fill up his Jojo tanks to supply his lodge.
The lodge owner said most lodges and residents had been forced to install rainwater tanks and new piping.
“We were without water for 21 days and some people were paying R1 000 every two or three days for borehole water.
“A lot of people are blaming the drought, but I see it as a lack of forward planning. Some of us have had to spend around R30 000 over the last year to put in new water tanks and pipes. Others are paying between R16 000 to R40 000 to put in new boreholes. Along with generators to cope with Eskom load shedding, it has cost some of us a lot of money, so we are really hoping for a busy season during the European summer.”
Andre de Klerk, general manager of the Protea Hotels Umfolozi River, Empangeni, and Waterfront Richards Bay, said at the Protea Hotel Umfolozi, they drew water from the river and that was their only source. They had to hire tankers “at a bigger expense to bring us water”.
De Klerk said tankers charged R3 500 for 13 000 litres. He said each day they needed about 80 000 litres.
Andrew Zaloumis, the chief executive of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, said he recalled being able to cross part of Lake St Lucia without getting his feet wet during the last drought, from 2002 to 2010.
“If we don’t get good rains this summer and continued flow from the uMfolozi River into this system, conditions could well become extremely dire.”
Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife spokesman Musa Mntambo said: “We have not lost animals so far. Some species adapt by eating early in the morning to take advantage of the dew, or by limiting their movements.”
Mntambo said Ezemvelo might consider moving vulnerable species from smaller reserves.
The Mercury