11 Counting Down to Day Zero: Exploring Community-Based Water Management …
203
An official from Drakenstein Local Municipality stated that the municipality
introduced a number of water serving strategies which were complemented by
community-based water management strategies. The official retorted;
Drakenstein Local Municipality introduced water use restrictions which prohibited watering
or irrigation of gardens, flowers, parks and sports fields and open spaces within certain
times, control of water use in ablution facilities, registration of boreholes and waterwells in
compliance with the Department of Water and Sanitation, washing and rinsing of vehicles
on personal and commercial basis, prohibition of the use of ornamental water fountains,
restrictions on filling up swimming pools, and prohibition of establishing new landscaping
or sports fields. Residents associations managed to keep encouraging residents to adhere to
water restrictions whilst watching misuse and wastages of water which assisted to entrench
a water conservation culture in communities.
From the questionnaires, the apparent finding was that there were more grassroots
initiated and bottom-up community-based water management strategies adopted and
implemented in rural areas of Western Cape as compared to urban areas to manage
the risks of the 2017/2018 drought. These included the management of water assets in
communities, arrangements for the maintenance boreholes and hand pumps, This was
evident in all the responses (100%) received from West Coast District Municipality,
Garden Route District Municipality, and Overberg District Municipality where there
are most of the rural areas of Western Cape are located. An official from West Coast
District Municipality stated;
When working with the rural communities of Ebenezer and Rietpoort, we were impressed by
their own initiatives towards managing water at village level. In Ebenezer, which is situated
about 40 km from Vredendal, community members agreed to make financial contributions
that would be used to pay community security personnel to protect their boreholes as well
as pay for transport expenses for the community representative to report any breakdown and
maintenance requirements all the time to our Community Service and Technical Services
Departments which are responsible for the maintenance and management of water drinking
supply systems in both rural and urban areas within the municipality.
The same was re-iterated by Garden Route District Municipality respondent. In
rural communities of Garden Route District Municipality, just as was the case in
Genadendal and Suurbraak rural areas of Overberg District Municipality, a number
of community-based water management strategies were operational as indicated by
the respondent;
Community-based water management strategies were prevalent in the rural area communities
of Haarlem, Kranshoek, Friemersheim, Zoar and Slangrivier during the drought. They had
their community wells that they would maintain collectively as villages. With the water table
going down everyday, the communities would dig further together organized under their
traditional leadership. They also agreed on the water usage mechanisms and restrictions.
The same also happened for water wells used for gardening and irrigation. This brought
some sense of ownership and responsibility.
The community-based water management strategies appeared to be more focused
on addressing issues of protecting water sources from vandalism, wear and tear while
also ensuring there is equity in water usage. There were cases of community-managed
borehole systems in Beaufort West Local Municipality employed to allow for equity
203
An official from Drakenstein Local Municipality stated that the municipality
introduced a number of water serving strategies which were complemented by
community-based water management strategies. The official retorted;
Drakenstein Local Municipality introduced water use restrictions which prohibited watering
or irrigation of gardens, flowers, parks and sports fields and open spaces within certain
times, control of water use in ablution facilities, registration of boreholes and waterwells in
compliance with the Department of Water and Sanitation, washing and rinsing of vehicles
on personal and commercial basis, prohibition of the use of ornamental water fountains,
restrictions on filling up swimming pools, and prohibition of establishing new landscaping
or sports fields. Residents associations managed to keep encouraging residents to adhere to
water restrictions whilst watching misuse and wastages of water which assisted to entrench
a water conservation culture in communities.
From the questionnaires, the apparent finding was that there were more grassroots
initiated and bottom-up community-based water management strategies adopted and
implemented in rural areas of Western Cape as compared to urban areas to manage
the risks of the 2017/2018 drought. These included the management of water assets in
communities, arrangements for the maintenance boreholes and hand pumps, This was
evident in all the responses (100%) received from West Coast District Municipality,
Garden Route District Municipality, and Overberg District Municipality where there
are most of the rural areas of Western Cape are located. An official from West Coast
District Municipality stated;
When working with the rural communities of Ebenezer and Rietpoort, we were impressed by
their own initiatives towards managing water at village level. In Ebenezer, which is situated
about 40 km from Vredendal, community members agreed to make financial contributions
that would be used to pay community security personnel to protect their boreholes as well
as pay for transport expenses for the community representative to report any breakdown and
maintenance requirements all the time to our Community Service and Technical Services
Departments which are responsible for the maintenance and management of water drinking
supply systems in both rural and urban areas within the municipality.
The same was re-iterated by Garden Route District Municipality respondent. In
rural communities of Garden Route District Municipality, just as was the case in
Genadendal and Suurbraak rural areas of Overberg District Municipality, a number
of community-based water management strategies were operational as indicated by
the respondent;
Community-based water management strategies were prevalent in the rural area communities
of Haarlem, Kranshoek, Friemersheim, Zoar and Slangrivier during the drought. They had
their community wells that they would maintain collectively as villages. With the water table
going down everyday, the communities would dig further together organized under their
traditional leadership. They also agreed on the water usage mechanisms and restrictions.
The same also happened for water wells used for gardening and irrigation. This brought
some sense of ownership and responsibility.
The community-based water management strategies appeared to be more focused
on addressing issues of protecting water sources from vandalism, wear and tear while
also ensuring there is equity in water usage. There were cases of community-managed
borehole systems in Beaufort West Local Municipality employed to allow for equity