MEC Anton Bredell on working with Matzikama Municipality to strengthen water security

Anton Bredell, Western Cape Minister for Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning, yesterday met with the Matzikama Municipality to discuss the municipality’s current water security status and related challenges.

Matzikama is currently classified as a medium-risk municipality. The Department of Local Government is providing targeted support to reduce immediate risks, while longer-term interventions are being developed to ensure sustained water security in the years ahead, Minister Bredell said.

As part of this support, the Department is contributing R1.7 million towards the refurbishment of two sand filters at the municipality’s water treatment works. An additional R800 000 will be allocated for the replacement of ageing air valves on the Vanrhynsdorp water network to reduce the risk of pipe bursts. A further R500 000 will be used to conduct groundwater studies, with the aim of drilling boreholes to augment water supply for Vanrhynsdorp.

“Vanrhynsdorp currently relies on water piped from Vredendal and has storage capacity for only two days. This makes the town particularly vulnerable to supply interruptions caused by the ageing and fragile state of the main pipeline between the two towns, as well as unplanned outages when emergency repair work is required on the Lower Olifants River Canal System,” Minister Bredell said.

“The development of boreholes to supplement Vanrhynsdorp’s water supply will significantly reduce water-related risks and improve overall resilience.”

The Minister also commended the municipality for its efforts to stabilise its finances, including disciplined participation in Eskom’s debt relief programme.

“A clean balance sheet will make Matzikama more attractive to future investors, which will be essential for implementing larger and more capital-intensive water infrastructure projects in the long term. These include the construction of additional bulk water storage dams for Vredendal, as well as a new mainline pipeline between Vredendal and Vanrhynsdorp,” Minister Bredell said.

Enquiries:
Spokesperson for Minister Anton Bredell
Wouter Kriel
Cell: 079 694 3085

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