THE ARTICLE “How City can counter water shortage” (Cape Argus, March 6) by Lester September is compulsory reading for every councillor.
Failure to take timely action, as happened with the current water crisis, burdens daily existence, impedes economic growth, scares tourists and reflects poorly on those mandated to foresee problems and have advanced plans in place.
I agree wholeheartedly with that.
On November 3 I sent a five-page letter to the Interim Planning Committee explaining in great detail why the city should not countenance the application for rezoning of 12 portions of erven 558 in Philippi.
The two ANC members abstained and it was left to the ACDP and Cope to vote against the application.
Growth is essential but it can never be at the expense of ecology and the environment.
The future is certainly going to be daunting because of long-term water scarcity.
Furthermore, land subsidence and salt water ingress into the aquifers will leave us more challenged.
I pointed out previously how the very centre of Mexico City, which houses the city hall, is sinking because of excess water extraction and inadequate recharging of the aquifer it sits on.
At that point, residents will start demanding why the council had not foreseen the problem and taken appropriate measures.

Reviews position of water availability in Pampore Constituency after drought like situation arises due to prolonged dry spell Jammu, February 22, (Scoop News)- Minister of State for PHE, Irrigation & Flood Control, Forest, Animal, Sheep Husbandry, Cooperative and Fisheries, Mir Zahoor Ahmad today called for taping of ground water at a large scale to overcome acute shortage of drinking water, mostly in rural Kashmir.
Chairing a meeting with the officers of PHE Department, convened to discuss and review the drought like situation due to prolonged dry spell in the State besides water scarcity in Pampore Constituency, Mir Zahoor stressed upon the concerned to work with utmost dedication and asked them to prepare a drought action plan to tackle the growing water crisis.
Taking stock of position of water availability in Pampore Constituency, the Minister asked the PHE authorities to speed up the pace of work on all ongoing water supply schemes including Kandizal.
He also asked them to prepare Detailed Project Report (DPR) for setting up of Over Head Tank (OHT) for Dasso village and submit the same to the concerned quarter for arrangement of funds.
It was informed in the meeting that the construction work on WSS KarnabalAlochbagh, Sathpukhren, Dasso and AIIMS Awantipora sanctioned under NABARD with an estimated cost of Rs 16.93 crore are in full swing.
It was also apprised that an amount of Rs 76 lakh is to be required for land compensation for these schemes excluding WSS Sathpukhren.
Chief Engineer, PHE Kashmir Abdul Waheed assured the meeting that the decisions taken with regard to improvement and up-gradation of PHE schemes in Pampore Constituency to be addressed on priority.
He also informed that due to the deficient rainfall during 2017-18, especially since September 2017 onwards, most of the surface water sources have dried up or depleted.
He said that water table in some areas has also gone down resulting in less discharge of ground water.
Among others, Chief Engineer PHE Jammu A K Gandotra, Senior Officers of PHE Department were present in the meeting.