Rainfall may be 'too little too late'

GRAAFF-REINET NEWS - Although Graaff-Reinet recently welcomed much-needed rain, and the Nqweba Dam level stood at 8,11% on Monday 24 February, experts are worried that it is too little too late.

Garth Sampson, of the Port Elizabeth Weather Office, sketched a dark picture of the dam level and the possibility of more rain. According to him, there may be rainfall next week, but nothing to get excited about. Below-normal rainfall is forecast until the end of June.

This despite the fact that 71mm of rainfall was measured in Graaff-Reinet during February.

"Even if the dam level rises to 20%, it will not be enough to carry Graaff-Reinet through the winter months," Sampson warned. He urged people to use water sparingly, "as the water crises is not yet over."

At a special council meeting on 30 January, Mayor Deon de Vos also warned that the drought is not going to leave us soon. "We are in for the long haul," he said.

On a positive note, the Chairperson of the Graaff-Reinet Agri District Union, Dave Stern, who lives and farms in the Nieu-Bethesda district, said fodder is growing at up to 13mm per day.

Promising clouds cover Ouberg on 12 February, with the Nqweba Dam level steadily rising.