Despite recent rain and storms battering parts of KwaZulu-Natal, the province is struggling to shake a devastating ‘green drought’ phenomenon that has persisted since 2015.

The situation has seemingly become worse and is affecting more areas and sectors on the ground, says KwaZulu-Natal Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Nomusa Dube-Ncube.

“The recent rainfall has created a false impression that the drought we experienced from 2015 is over. Our dams have not been replenished to their predrought levels and the danger of running out of water is still very real. We need to act now to counter this,” she explains.

The phenomenon is marked by a period of limited rainfall that causes new but insubstantial plant growth, while failing to sufficiently replenish the water levels of farm and provincial dams or ground and soil water levels.

“In KwaZulu-Natal, the rainfall that has occurred has not been of equal volume everywhere. At times, we have witnessed isolated storms with lots of rain, so people assumed the drought is over but the water table is not being replenished,” she says, citing a recent devastating storm, accompanied by gale-force winds and localised flooding, in Ladysmith.

The uThukela district municipality, within which Ladysmith falls, remains the epicentre of the drought challenges.

An abnormal heat wave has increased evaporation rates, leaving the ground and soil water levels low and decreasing farm dam water levels, which are deemed to be in a “very precarious state”.

Many dams across the province remain at critically low levels, most notably the Albert Falls dam, at 34%, the Pongolapoort dam, at 42%, and the Goedertrouw dam, at 45%.

The collective average water levels for all KwaZulu-Natal dams stands at 55%.

The Alfred Duma, Inkosi Langalibalele and uKhahlamba local municipalities face extreme difficulties as boreholes run dry and dams face low water levels, along with abstraction and operational challenges at water treatment works.

In some cases, the boreholes are providing only 15% of the required water supply a day.

“To many people in the communities, these boreholes are their only source of water and some of the boreholes in the areas have dried up completely, owing to the low water table,” says Dube-Ncube.

The drought conditions extend to the King Cetshwayo and Zululand districts and the uMuziwabantu and Nongoma local municipalities, with concerns now also being raised within the Umgeni and Hazelmere systems.

Similarly, the uMzinyathi district faces renewed water restrictions, owing to very little rain and low river and dam levels.

“Above-average rainfall is projected over the next three months and this will, hopefully, improve the water resource situation so that restrictions are not needed across the province,” she adds, noting that, should the drought persist, most of the areas will be severely affected as the borehole yield will not accommodate normal pumping schedules.

Further, the green drought continues to have a devastating impact on the farming sector, with support for the industry being actively sought by the farming community.

“There is already a warning of another brewing crisis as persistent dry conditions and hot weather are threatening crops and livestock across the province, and many subsistence farmers are behind [in terms of] planting this season,” she says.

“It is also concerning that as little as 60% of available land was planted this season and those crops are being threatened by relentless heat. If we do not get the necessary rainfall in some of the most affected areas, some of the crops that have been planted will die.”

In an effort to mitigate the impact of the drought, water restrictions will possibly be imposed on all consumers, both domestic and business.

Further mitigation efforts include undertaking water conservation campaigns in the worst-affected communities and the submission of short-term drought intervention business plans involving a total of R38-million to the Department of Water Affairs and Sanitation to source funding.

“We are implementing various intervention measures. This is why an allocation of R122-million from the National Disaster Management Centre is being disbursed to drought-affected KwaZulu-Natal districts to deal with the most urgent green drought hot spots,” she says.

“We have worked closely with municipalities to introduce water conservation measures where necessary and mandatory restrictions remain an option in some areas,” Dube-Ncube concludes.