The Free State town of Kroonstad has made a desperate emergency appeal for water, as residents have virtually one week of water supply left. Humanitarian organisation Gift of the Givers has dispatched its teams to Kroonstad, to provide bottles of water. Water is pumped from the river into the day and both the river and dam are now dry. Residents of Kroonstad and other Free state towns have been facing tighter water restrictions during the drought.

Gift of the Givers founder Dr Imtiaz Sooliman says in addition to the bottled water a more sustainable intervention is paramount. Drillers are on site right now drilling for water. Sooliman says the water will be used to service areas and to pump water into the municipal water system.

“The borehole is located in a strategic site that will service three locations and in addition water will be pumped from the borehole into the municipal water system to ensure that individual homes receive water. This borehole will be fitted with a filtration system to purify the water immediately for drinking purposes as the groundwater in Kroonstad is known not to be pure,” he explained.

The area of Maokeng and its main town Kroonstad have been grappling with poor infrastructure for years. Two of the three dams supplying the Maokeng Municipality have run dry, and the third only has enough water for emergency use.

Gift of the Givers drought intervention programme has been ongoing since January. From Kroonstad they move to Vryheid to drill another borehole there as this is another town also in desperate need of water.

Any further contribution of bottled water from the public is welcome. Visit www.giftofthegivers.org for details.