Annual Report 2025

The Kouga Dam level was last at 100% full on 9 December 2024. Over the past year, the dam level has brought reassurance to water users who are reliant on scheme water.

A quota of 100% has been allocated to our agricultural users by the Department of Water and Sanitation for the current water year of 2024/2025 (November to October). However, regardless of this full allocation, water is still treated with care by the users.

Agricultural users receive 60.188-million cubic metres of water from Kouga Dam during a normal 100% allocation year. The Hankey and Patensie municipalities also receive an allocation, as does the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality. During a full-quota year, this amounts to 23-million cubic metres of water.

The water that is released from Kouga Dam, and for which the end point is Loerie Dam, is balanced every day by the water control department.

The objective is to provide all consumers who depend on supply from Kouga Dam with enough water to meet their daily needs, with the outcome of only releasing enough water into Loerie Dam to supply the Metro’s needs, while also managing Loerie Dam at a maximum level of 85%.

This in itself takes careful planning and a sound knowledge of water supply. The water control department possesses this institutional knowledge, and the reality is that this skill needs to live on in systems after these individuals retire.

Currently, three systems are used to manage water consumption in the scheme:

• Water Management System (WMS):
  This system was developed for Gamtoos Water’s unique needs. It covers water consumption rights, water usage and water metering.
• Zednet platform:
  This internet-based platform sees levels measured at various locations in real time in order to determine the water level at a single glance across the entire scheme.
• Gamtoos application:
  This app for reporting water use by consumers has been developed to manage water usage at the lower end of the scheme.

Efforts are being made to integrate these systems into one platform and to develop a model to predict water releases.

These are valuable investments into the future operation of the scheme.

Water rights in the Kabeljous and the Baviaanskloof are mainly based on rivers and borehole abstraction. These rights are in various stages of the verification and validation process driven by DWS. Assisting water users to complete this process is one of Gamtoos Water’s main objectives in the short term.

The greater proportion of the Baviaanskloof catchment’s water rights has already been verified via Section 35(4) letters.

The following crops and produce are most prevalent in the Gamtoos, Baviaanskloof and Kabeljous catchment areas:

• Gamtoos: Citrus, blueberries, strawberries, prepackaged vegetables, cash crops and dairy cattle.
• Baviaanskloof: Fodder for small livestock; vegetable seeds and grain.
• Kabeljous: Pasture (rye grass, alfalfa, kikuyu etc,), dairy cattle, beef cattle, sheep, game, citrus, avocados and vegetables.

Tourism is also an important revenue stream in all three of these sub-catchment areas.

The dry periods of each year are the most important events for our scheme.

During 2024/2025, there were five dry periods. These five involved the branch canals, while the main dry period took place over two weeks on the Main Canal.

Work is planned by taking into consideration events that occurred on the scheme during the year, as well as drawing on information contained in the risk report for the scheme.

In broader terms, the following was undertaken:

• The necessary cleaning and repair work was done on the Main Canal, with specific focus on upgrading the lower part of the scheme in Loerie. Upgrade of the Loerie area was completed this year.
• D Canal was cleaned and repaired, and particular emphasis was placed on areas where the canal wall was porous. A scour valve was also built just before the open canal runs into a pipe to facilitate dewatering of the lower section.
• Repair work was done on the Seunie sluice on D Canal.
• A cut-off valve was installed where the water splits between the C and D Canals. This improvement allows the Main Canal to be sealed off from the branch canals.
• Upgrade work was completed on the B Canal. The canal has been cleaned, repaired and painted.
• The K Canal was cleaned and repaired.
• The G Canal was painted and upgraded. It was also cleaned as usual, and the necessary repairs were made.

More specifically, the following was undertaken:

• Scheepers Dam Syphon dewatered, cleaned and inspected.
• Wolwekloof Syphon (A1) dewatered, cleaned and inspected.
• Main Canal special maintenance on A86-93 in Loerie (1,800m).
• General maintenance on the entire Main Canal:
  • Emptied and cleaned.
  • Repaired with bitu-putty and Multi-Seal.
  • Concrete repairs on selected areas.
• Modification of humps 57, 58, 93 and 94: The structure was saw-cut in the centre and fitted with a hump sluice gate.
• Concrete repairs to the Scheepers Dam inlet (26).
• Concrete repairs to the Buffelshoek Syphon inlet.
• Concrete repairs to 103 Canal.

Note: ‘Special maintenance’ entails the following:

• High pressure wash of the entire canal; all cracks and joints.
• Cleaning out of all cracks and joints with a compressor.
• Repairing of cracks and joints with bitu-putty and bitu-plastic.
• Concrete repairs where necessary (large holes or holes that press through the concrete slab).
• Sealing of hairline cracks with Flintkote, a bituminous sealant.
• Painting of the entire canal section with Flintkote (first layer diluted 50/50 with water, second and third layers are full coats).

The following is noteworthy from the 2025 dry period:

• Work was done in conjunction with 13 contractors, each with 10 employees.
• Training in first aid, health and safety, and confined spaces was given to these workers. Training is an important mechanism to plough knowledge back into our communities.

The following takes place daily on the scheme:

• The control of vegetation and weeds along the canal system. This makes a significant difference during the intensive dry periods. During 2025, it was noted that the canals are much cleaner. It is suspected that the control of vegetation may be the reason for this.
• Dry land rehabilitation in various places on the scheme.
• Maintaining the system and fixing daily leaks and breaks.
• Management of our water supply. Provision at the lower end of our scheme remains a challenge. There are significantly more pivot irrigation systems than before, which means large volumes of water are required during shorter periods of the year. Various depth gauges are used to manage the situation. The Loerie area has turned into a water demand system. An application has been developed to optimise the management of it.
• Water quality in the catchment area, the Gamtoos plain and Kabeljous is measured every three months, and reported to various platforms.

The scheme is getting older and has already passed its lifespan. It is a reality that it will not be replaced through rebuilding, as the costs involved would be enormous. For this reason, it is crucial to continue carrying out thorough daily maintenance on the scheme.

It has been found that the branch canals are in a particularly poor condition. In terms of planning, special maintenance must be done on all branch canals within the next few years.

The aim is to paint the branch canals with a rubber layer once cracks have been repaired with cement or a flexible sealant. This procedure extends the life of the canal and makes it easier to clean. Maintenance in this case is minimal compared to traditional cement canals.

The products used for this process are expensive. Work is done methodically and every year a specific amount is budgeted for the purchase of these products.

To protect the continued existence of the scheme, it needs to show that it is resilient. The only way to achieve this is to continue maintaining and upgrading it.

Gamtoos Water understands that economic existence and growth in the Gamtoos, Baviaanskloof and Kabeljous catchment areas revolve around the availability of water. Agriculture is the biggest source of income for all communities in these catchment areas. In many cases it is the only source of income for communities.

We have an obligation as a water user association to, effectively and on a regulated basis, manage water resources in all three sub-catchment areas entrusted to Gamtoos Water. We do this in collaboration with our agricultural users, as well as any other entity or group with an interest in water management.

There are many challenges in the water industry. These range from water availability to regulatory matters. The need for the next year is simply that Gamtoos Water will be resilient enough to understand the challenges, respond to them and thus be able to ride the wave.

The rapid development of technology and the costs associated with this are among the challenges we face. New technology is constantly being considered to identify faster and more efficient methods of work.

The current economic realities and terms of US policy will likely affect many variables, from the price of electronics to labour. Gamtoos Water chooses to consciously identify threats and respond to them.

The ever-widening gap around the maintenance of infrastructure through the non-involvement of government entities creates a situation where institutions will have to actively decide whether they want to take responsibility for the maintenance of infrastructure, or live with a world that is collapsing locally. The water user association facilitates access to the valley by maintaining the local tar roads. Gamtoos Water also focuses on systematically upgrading the water infrastructure under our control.

The local communities are always in need. Gamtoos Water is actively involved in schools, sport, the support of our staff’s learners in high school, as well as the empowerment of local SMMEs, and the development of skills among the community and the staff.

It is a privilege to be a functional water user association. This is made possible through funding from our water users. It is only through an entity such as Gamtoos Water that new water-related challenges can be effectively handled, and Gamtoos Water can be an example of effective water management at grassroots level.

Asimi, siyaqhuba.
We do not stand still; we move forward.