Rural Amathole Villages Unite to Fix Water Scheme GroundUp_News: SouthAfrica
The Mncwasa dam in Amathole, Eastern Cape, is full of fresh water. But taps remain dry in most of the 40 villages that are supposed to receive water from the dam., a non-profit company based in Nqileni village, has joined traditional leaders, ward councillors, and community members, to work with the Amathole District Municipality and fix the ailing water scheme.
According to residents, taps in the village had been working until two years ago. Community leader Buzman Ndyose said leaks had become common and instead of fixing them, the municipality would often just cut the water supply to leaky pipes. According to municipal spokesperson Nonceba Madikizela-Vuso, the municipality receives a limited budget for operations and maintenance."The Equitable Share grant , in real terms, is shrinking," Madikizela-Vuso.
It became clear early on that a proper diagnosis of the scheme's challenges was necessary. A survey of almost 300 interviews was conducted throughout the areas covered by the scheme, by a team of six community members over five days in April last year. When GroundUp visited the Mncwasa Water Treatment works in September, only one of the three pumps was working. The Equality Collective's survey report revealed that there should be two pumps running 24-hours a day for everyone across the scheme to get water.Two engineers analysed the data from the survey and made several recommendations to get the scheme operational again.