MOSSEL BAY NEWS - Inclement weather on Thursday, 14 January and an insufficient number of suitable containers necessitated the benevolent effort intended to donate the water used by the Hartenbos Waterwurm to drought-stricken areas to be postponed until Friday, 22 January.
Due to the redevelopment of the ATKV Hartenbos beach resort the Waterwurm had to close and relocate to Diaz beach.
The water was tested by the Mossel Bay Municipality in the past week and reportedly found to be suitable for animal consumption. Areas in especially the Free State and other northern provinces are experiencing a crippling drought and every effort is made to assist farmers in the affected regions.
Economists predict that the effect of the drought on the South African economy in general and food security, in particular, will be crippling.
According to the Government Communication and Information Service, the South African Weather Service has indicated that South Africa is currently in the grips of the worst drought in 23 years. The last big El Nino weather pattern that affected South Africa so extremely was back in 1992.
The current El Nino is worldwide and is estimated to last for several more months. Most areas of the country received below-normal rainfall coupled with high temperatures during the late part of the 2014/15 summer season.
The continued low rainfall resulted in dry conditions with drought being reported in KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Free State, North West and parts of the Gauteng, Northern, Eastern and Western Cape Provinces.
The Eastern Cape, Western Cape and Northern Cape are still being assessed. Agricultural production has been severely affected by the drought and veld conditions are very poor and crop farmers could also not plant their crops during the planting season due to inadequate rainfall.
Readers or companies who can assist with bulk transportation or suitably big containers are requested to contact the owner of the Hartenbos Waterwurm, Dirk Steyn on 083 678 3555.
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The Mossel Bay Fire and Rescue team of shift officer Audrey Gelderblom contributed to the effort to send water from Mossel Bay to drought-stricken areas in the rest of the country when they transported a total of 44 containers from Mossel Bay to the Hartenbos Waterwurm. The containers with a capacity of 25 liters each was kindly donated by the owners of Die Broodmandjie.
ARTICLE: NICKEY LE ROUX, MOSSEL BAY ADVERTISER JOURNALIST
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