OPINION: Here we go again, Kimberley. The taps are off, the reservoirs are empty, and the excuses are overflowing. If water is life, then the city is hooked up to the ICU’s most fragile life support system.
By Monty Quill
HERE we go again, Kimberley. The taps are off, the reservoirs are empty, and the excuses are overflowing. The municipality has once again dazzled us with their remarkable ability to act surprised by something as predictable as a heatwave in December. Who could have seen it coming? Certainly not the city planners who apparently think water infrastructure repairs are best left for the hottest time of the year.
Ah, the irony of Kimberley’s tagline has never been sharper. “The City That Sparkles,” they say, but perhaps they meant the shimmer of sweat on every resident as we navigate yet another round of water restrictions. Gardens? Forget about them. Swimming pools? A relic of the past. Washing your car? What are you, a millionaire?
But don’t worry, the Sol Plaatje Municipality has a plan: daytime water cuts from noon to 5pm and night-time cuts from 9pm to 4am. That’s right, Kimberley, the water will be off for half the day, leaving you to plan around a whopping 12 hours of dry taps. Truly visionary.
Let’s talk about those Newton Reservoir levels. Tank 2 is at 54%, Tank 3 is limping along at 63%, and the others aren’t exactly overflowing with optimism either. But don’t fret – the Riverton Water Treatment Plant is hard at work… or, at least, 60% of it is. Why? Because it’s undergoing refurbishments. In December. During a heatwave. Honestly, whoever planned this deserves a round of applause for their comedic timing.
And yet, despite producing just 100 megalitres of water per day (15 megalitres short of what’s needed), the municipality assures us they’re “doing everything they can”. Translation: brace yourselves for another round of finger-pointing and vague promises.
While officials sit in air-conditioned offices drafting notices about what we can’t do with water, Kimberley’s residents are left to shoulder the burden. We’re expected to conserve, ration, and sacrifice. No watering gardens. No filling pools. No washing cars or paved surfaces. Soon, it’ll be no brushing your teeth, either. But hey, at least we’re contributing to the city’s savings on water treatment costs, right?
The truth is, Kimberley’s residents have become experts at crisis management. We share water-saving tips, queue for water tankers, and somehow manage to maintain a sense of humour through it all. Meanwhile, the municipality’s response feels like a poorly written sitcom: bad timing, unbelievable plot twists, and no resolution in sight.
It’s time for the municipality to stop using the heatwave as an excuse and start addressing the real issues. Where’s the investment in sustainable water solutions? Why aren’t refurbishment projects completed before the height of summer? And why does it feel like we’re always one step away from a full-blown drought?
Kimberley deserves better than this. We deserve officials who plan ahead, infrastructure that holds up under pressure, and water restrictions that don’t feel like punishment for problems we didn’t create.
For now, all we can do is hope. Hope that the reservoirs don’t dry up entirely. Hope that the Riverton plant speeds up those refurbishments. Hope that someone, somewhere, is taking notes for next year. In the meantime, Kimberley, grab your buckets, ration your water, and reflect: it’s not the reservoirs that run dry – it’s the accountability.
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