The Dams Of Port St Johns Pdf
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Transcript of The Dams Of Port St Johns Pdf
Highlighting the water problems that the town of Port St
Johns will be facing shortly
To ensure that the Municipal area of Port
St Johns had adequate water supplies
to meet the requirements of the town
and surrounding rural areas, a
remarkable water storage and
reticulation scheme was developed and
implemented, one which would
supposedly allow the area to be self
sufficient for years………
………a series of linked and
interdependent dams were to be
constructed and these fed, in the case of
the containment dams by water abstracted
from the Umgazi River, and in the case of
the main Port St Johns dam, by water
obtained from the surrounding catchment
area. The dams and infrastructure , built at
a cost of R? million to the tax payer and
were commissioned in about 2004…
The dams are located as shown in this image…
Water would be pumped the short distance (0.12km) from
the Umgazi River into the Umgazi Retaining dam ……..Photo taken 27th July 2009
……as shown in this Google map of 2004, which
shows the dam full of water ….
Umgazi River
Retaining Dam
………from there water would be
piped to the header dam located on the
hilltop over looking the main Port St
John supply dam, and from there it was
to be distributed to the town and
surrounding areas……..
Google image taken 2004 showing position of dams in relation to one
another, plus filtration plant. Note that the header dam contained water at
that stage
……..as of July 2009 this water containment system
is lying empty and the town of Port St Johns is,
with the current rate of water usage and abuse,
facing the situation there shortly being no water to
service the needs of the town inhabitants.
Supplies to rural areas have already been curtailed,
the Umgazi containment dam looks like this……
……..empty, apart from a small amount of water at its
lowest point…… the header dam looks like this…..(This dam is 0.5km long by 0.18km at its widest point)
…….despite being lined with a water proof membrane, now torn in places
with seams gaping open, the dam is empty apart from the ravens that strut
around in it……………….and the main dam………………………
………nothing but a quickly diminishing puddle of muddy water.
July 2009.
I am not aware of there being any
contingency plans being in place to
prevent this problem from becoming a
full scale disaster………and neither do I
know of anyone querying as to why a
public works of this magnitude has been
allowed to lie unused and in this state of
disrepair.
How can state assets of this nature be
allowed to deteriorate like this, and who
will be held responsible?