Central SA
De Aar Hospital reservoir without water─── BAMBATHA GIKO 16:45 Thu, 26 Jan 2023
The Democratic Alliance in the Northern Cape urges the Department of Health to set aside a budget to address the De Aar Hospital's reservoir, which has been without water for over three years.
The reservoir was built in 2016. However, it was built on higher ground than the Emthanjeni Local Municipality's reservoirs. According to DA councillor Gerhard Engelbrecht, this means the municipal reservoirs require 70% of their capacity to supply water to the hospital.
He says the hospital now receives water directly from the municipal water system, but this is only enough to flush toilets and for some taps. This poses a serious threat to the hospital, as there is not enough water to reach the hospital fire hydrants.
"The hospital reservoir, which was built with the sole purpose of making the hospital self-sufficient, remains a white elephant. This is due to the pumps, which must pump water from the municipal reservoir to the hospital, being affected by consistently low water levels over the past few months"
The municipality plans to instal two boreholes near the hospital, according to Engelbrecht. He adds that the DA, in collaboration with AfriForum, proposed providing water pumps since they have the resources to do so. However, they are waiting to hear from the municipality on how to proceed.
