GROUNDUP: This Eastern Cape town only gets water for an hour a day

{JSON.stringify(article.attachments[0], null, 2)} --> Kou-Kamma Local Municipality says it needs R210-million to upgrade and maintain water and sanitation infrastructure.

Residents of Misgund say they struggle with an unreliable water supply, with households only getting water for an hour or two a day and sometimes going for days without it.

Misgund is a small rural community in the Langkloof, Eastern Cape. The region is known for its apple, pear and peach farming. The settlement is home to about 500 households, mainly RDP homes, and due to its proximity to farms many residents are current or former farmworkers.

Residents say getting enough water to meet their basic needs has become a daily struggle since 2011.

At Twinkle Twinkle Daycare, staff store water in containers for the children and carry buckets to flush the toilets when the taps run dry.

Crèche owner and principal Elize Berries said they cater for children aged four months to five years old.

“Every day we get water for about one hour. Some months there isn’t water for several days. We’ve never had continuous running water,” said Berries.

Water is needed throughout the day for drinking, preparing food, washing hands and flushing the toilets, she said.

Taps have water from about 5pm to 7pm, and sometimes for two or three hours over weekends, she said.

“Sometimes it’s on during the day, but that’s a problem because people are at work so they cannot fill up their containers.”

“We can’t wash our white clothes with this water because there will be brown marks,” said Berries.

When GroundUp visited the crèche, water drawn the previous night was murky, and all the taps we opened were empty.

At the crèche, tap water is used mainly for flushing toilets and mopping floors. For drinking and cooking, Berries relies on rainwater and water from a staff member’s tank. She buys five litres of water for R20 about four times a month when the stored supply runs out.

The water shortage adds yet another cost to a crèche that survives on thin margins. Though registered as a nonprofit, Berries said her applications for government funding have been unsuccessful. Parents pay R280 per child a month, covering rent, electricity, porridge and other costs. The crèche currently has 18 children, down from the roughly 40 it sees in peak farming season. Berries pays about R500 a month in rent and R300 for electricity.