MOSSEL BAY NEWS - Mayor Dirk Kotzé, Mossel Bay: Mossel Bay residents should note and prepare for the worsening Eskom debacle.
Like the rest of the country, Mossel Bay is suffering from the shortcomings of Eskom.
I want to apologise to residents for the incidents earlier this week when the power supply in some areas kicked off directly after the evening's scheduled load shedding. Emergency teams had to work well into the night to restore the supply.
My sincere thanks also to our emergency personnel for doing a sterling job.
I invite residents to regularly consult the municipality's social media, especially Facebook, as notifications on service delivery issues are communicated on these pages as and when it happens.
Official social media and local radio transmissions are usually used to communicate important information with residents and, in cases of prolonged outages will provide confirmed updates.
On Tuesday, 28 June Eskom has implemented Stage 6 Load-shedding. The implication is that stage 6 doubles the frequency of stage 3, which means that outages will be scheduled for four hours at a time.
According to the Western Cape Ministry of Local Government, Environmental Affairs & Development Planning, the Chief Operating Officer of Eskom has indicated that, when Stage 6 is implemented for a 24-hour period, most residents will find themselves without electricity for six hours on that day, although – importantly – note that this may be split into blocks of two hours at a time.
Switch off
In the case of a power failure, the Municipal Electrical Department will only be able to reset circuit breakers at substations once the network loads are reduced.
Therefore, the Municipality requests the cooperation of residents to switch off all non-essential equipment such as geysers and/or heaters/pool pumps, etc. before a scheduled load-shedding, and not to switch it back on as soon as the electricity supply is restored.
I urge you to rather wait a couple of minutes for the supply to normalise before switching on any equipment.
It is anticipated that load shedding will continue for some time due to severe power system constraints which are beyond the control of Mossel Bay Municipality.
This is due to a significant deterioration of Eskom’s operations that has been exacerbated by the ongoing strike action which has led to associated losses due to coal and labour issues.
Grid collapse
There remain fears about the likelihood that the power grid in its entirety may collapse despite assurances to the contrary.
I want to reassure residents that the Mossel Bay Municipality has extensive contingency planning that provides for this possibility.
Detailed plans exist to ensure continued service delivery, especially for the:
- water and sewage services,
- streets and stormwater division,
- IT Data and Telecommunications,
- traffic and community safety,
- supply chain management and, importantly, for
- personnel management.
In the case of prolonged electricity outages, the municipal personnel responsible to mitigate and manage all situations will immediately activate the Load Shedding Committee to implement focal strategies, among others, to:
- ensure that adequate generators are in place to supply pumping capacity to the sewerage water treatment plants,
- ensure that adequate storage is available for raw sewerage,
- ensure that sufficient potable water is available to communities and industry, and
- ensure the strict water restriction measures, if necessary, should the need arise.
Management
It is also important to note that the municipal joint operations centre and disaster management services will manage the outages according to the approved contingency plans. Meetings in this regard have already taken place and will continue going forward.
Traffic
In the event of traffic signals not working, the road marking team will place STOP signboards at identified intersections on the major arterial roads.
Residents are requested to treat all intersections as four-way stop streets and to be extra vigilant.
Sewerage
The Municipality has fixed generators available at several sewer pump stations, and a 40kVA mobile generator will be available for the Vlei Street pump station to prevent possible spillages.
The Hartenbos wastewater treatment works are equipped with two generators to supply the mixers and aerators.
Emergency storage ponds will be activated for raw sewer overflows at the Hartenbos and Herbertsdale treatment works.
By continuously monitoring the systems, the Streets and Stormwater Department will ensure that the stormwater drainage systems are fully functional to accommodate possible overflows. Other sewer pump stations will continuously be monitored by the fitters and electricians for possible overflows.
The Municipality has several service providers to augment the municipal honey sucker in the event of spillages where overflows may occur, or the level of raw sewage has been detected to be of a nature that could overflow.
Water supply
The town's water supply will be able to provide potable water for approximately five days.
Municipal water reservoirs are at Sandhoogte, Tergniet, Fraaiuitsig, Langeberg, Suiderkruis, Klipkop, Friemersheim and the Klein Brak River water purification plant will be able to purify water.
After 24 hours, water tankers will be dispatched to areas such as KwaNonqaba, Heiderand, Dana Bay, D'Almeida, Pinnacle Point, Mossel Bay CBD South of Marsh Street, Buisplaas, Herbertsdale, Boggomsbaai, Vleesbaai, Nautilus Bay and Mossdustria. The Municipality will augment the available water tankers through private service providers.
Fuel
All essential municipal vehicles required during a prolonged power outage will be sufficiently fuelled and no non-essential vehicles will be used to conserve the municipal fuel stocks.
Electricity
The technical staff inspect all fixed and mobile generators weekly.
Recently, online purchases of prepaid electricity have caused problems nationwide, affecting Mossel Bay residents also. Soon residents will receive an extended list of all prepaid electricity suppliers for their convenience as part of a municipal newsletter.
The Technical Services Department implemented a 20kWp rooftop photo voltaic (PV) system when 81 installed solar panels were activated.
These offices now generate sufficient electricity to run these offices, the state-of-the-art telemetry equipment and systems used to ensure that the town's electricity, water supply, and sewerage systems operate optimally.
Residents
“While we obviously hope the contingencies will not be necessary, I urge residents to use electricity sparingly. We should be more vigilant and turn off equipment such as geysers, heaters, and pool pumps when the electricity grid is constrained.”
Please turn off sensitive electrical equipment before the announced times for load-shedding to protect your property, and don't switch it on immediately once the electricity supply is restored.
We should prepare for the likelihood of prolonged power outages by ensuring that we have
- sufficient fuel in our vehicles,
- a fair supply of bottled water at home,
- an alternative source of energy, such as gas for cooking,
- a supply of non-perishable food for at least five days, if not more, and
- an alternative power supply for communications equipment, if possible.
Please ensure that you have the contact details of your neighbours and neighbourhood watch groups.
Alas, Mossel Bay Municipality has no control over the Eskom electricity supply or the load shedding schedule. I understand the resident's frustration at the escalating power outages - I get frustrated too.
Please be assured that the Mossel Bay Municipality is doing everything possible to ensure and maintain a fully functional environment despite the many challenges.
As a local government, a municipality is closest to its people. I understand that residents often vent their frustration at Eskom by blaming the Municipality of poor service delivery. I can assure you that we have a most competent team, and I have every faith in the Administration.
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