CAPE TOWN, May 5 (Xinhua) -- Local officials warned on Thursday that South Africa's Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality is fast running out of water as local dams are running dry amid a serious drought.
"Nelson Mandela Bay is experiencing a drought disaster, and it is going to get a lot worse for the long term," Mayor Eugene Johnson said during a public information session.
"We have been talking this crisis for years, now Day Zero has arrived," she said.
The southern coastal city, Africa's automotive industry hub, which has a population of over 1.2 million and is one of 8 metropolitan municipalities in South Africa, has over the past year released multiple notices that the local dam levels are "critically low."
Local dams in the region only had 2.8 percent of water left as of May 4, with the second largest dam Impofu containing the usable volume of only 1.28 percent, according to Barry Martin, the city's senior director for water and sanitation.
The remaining 13.05 percent of water in the largest dam, Kouga, is reserved for agricultural use, he said, adding that some areas in the city, including the central business district, are estimated to run out of water by the end of June.
"We are appealing to our residents to use water sparingly, because you don't have water to drink or to wash your clothes, or to flush your toilet, this is going to get real," said the mayor.
She added that the city may not get rainfall for a month, citing weather forecast data. ■