The Groenland Water Users Association (GWUA) in the Overberg says it will next week release between eight and ten million cubic metres of water into the Western Cape supply network. The donation will translates to about a billion litres of water.

Chief Executive officer of GWUA, Johan Groenewald, says the water is a donation from farmers in Elgin and Grabouw, and comes mainly from the Eikenhof water scheme and private dams in the Upper Kogelberg catchment area.

He says negotiations started in October 2017.

Groenewald says the water will be pumped into the Palmiet river on Tuesday, from where it will flow by canal to the upper Steenbras dam that supplies water to the Cape Town municipality.

“It’s out of the Groenland water users catchment area – and its a once off voluntary ceding that will take place from next Tuesday for up to somewhere in March. We cant release everything at once, because otherwise then the Kogelberg dam where they transfer the water up to the Rockfall dam to release into the Steenbras dam…they cant take all the 10 million at one stage,” said Groenewald.