The shutdown by the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority (LHDA), in conjunction with the Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority, has already started at the beginning of this month. Spokesperson of the Department of Water and Sanitation, Sputnik Ratau, says the shutdown is taking place to conduct maintenance work and perform inspections on the project’s water transfer and delivery tunnel, as well as associated systems. He says this will continue until the end of November.

According to Ratau, no water will be transferred from the LHWP to the Vaal River System during this shutdown period. The Ash and Liebenbergsvlei Rivers may thus run low. The Department of Water and Sanitation does, however, have contingency plans in place for the shutdown period. Farmers along these rivers must refrain from over-abstraction of water for agricultural purposes. No water may be taken from the Liebenbergsvlei River for any agricultural purposes between 06h00 on a Saturday until 06h00 on a Monday, succeeding that Saturday. He says from October 1 to November 30 water users on the left banks of the river may take water for agricultural purposes from 06:00 to 06:00 on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Water users on the right banks of this river may also take water for agricultural purposes from 06h00 to 06h00 on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

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