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Fires devastate huge areas of Garden Route

10/02/10

AT least 6000 hectares of mainly indigenous fynbos have been destroyed by wildfires sweeping across the Garden Route, and firefighters were still battling last night to contain a number of massive blazes that were raging out of control.

Bitou River inflow set to benefit from Funda quarry rehabilitation

08/02/10

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THE Funda quarry outside Plettenberg Bay, which stopped operating last April, is to be rehabilitated in a move that looks set to improve the quality of water flowing into the Bitou River.

Municipality uses drinking water to spray dump site during Crisis

08/02/10

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Municipal workers have apparently been authorized to use our critically low drinking water supply to spray the dump site.

Bitou set to form water users’ association

29/01/10

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REPRESENTATIVES of the agriculture, nature conservation, tourism, ratepayers and municipal sectors in Bitou have agreed to form a water users’ association in light of the prolonged drought.

Bitou water supply – all the alarm bells sound…

28/01/10

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Bitou water supply – all the alarm bells sound…

Long-time CXPRESS contributor of years past, and outdoors fundi of legendary proportions, JACK MUDD shares a piece of his mind on the local water crisis

Rain fails to end Garden Route drought

27/01/10

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WHILE heavy rains were experienced in the Eastern Cape, Free State and KwaZulu Natal yesterday, the drought-stricken Garden Route only received between 8mm and 15mm overnight on Monday.

Bitou hoping for desalination plants news as drought bites

26/01/10

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THE Bitou Municipality is hoping to get feedback in February for its R40-million application to the Western Cape government and National Treasury to build two desalination plants.

Waterthrifty Garden Route must try even harder

12/01/10

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Waterthrifty Garden Route must try even harder

WATER supplies held up well in the drought-stricken Garden Route over the December tourist season, but with holidaymakers returning home, town councils said yesterday the situation remained critical and urged residents to redouble their efforts to limit consumption.

40-MW wind-power project planned for Tsitsikamma

30/11/09

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A memorandum of understanding was signed on Monday at Wittekleibosch in the Eastern Cape between partners hoping to develop the Tsitsikamma Community Wind Farm (TCWF) project.

Holiday water fears prompt Plett move

30/11/09

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THE acute water shortage in Plettenberg Bay has prompted the Bitou council to declare a disaster area at the start of the peak December holiday season, when the town’s population is expected to double.

Vital water supply slows to a trickle

30/11/09

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A GROWING number of people who live and work in the Bitou River valley near Plettenberg Bay are becoming anxious about the continued availability of water from the river.

Environmentalists gather

27/10/09

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GARDEN Route environmentalists gathered at the weekend to add their voice to worldwide global warming initiatives.

Water awareness campaign gets under way along Garden Route

14/10/09

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THE Eden inter-municipal water crisis communications committee has begun the first phase of its media awareness campaign for George, Knysna, Bitou and Mossel Bay, all under stress due to the worst drought in 132 years.

Plett to double water out of Keurbooms, Bitou rivers

09/10/09

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Plett to double water out of Keurbooms, Bitou rivers

In a boost for economic development, Plettenberg Bay will now be able to almost double the amount of water it can abstract from the Keurbooms River.

Bitou bid to raise town water tariff because of drought

05/10/09

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Bitou’s urban residents could pay significantly more for their water if the National Treasury approves a recommendation adopted in principle by the mayoral committee yesterday to implement emergency tariffs.

Plett takes part in worldwide protest

22/09/09

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About 40 Plettenberg Bay residents and visitors gathered on Central Beach yesterday to take part in a simultaneous worldwide protest to highlight the need for action on climate change.

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Sideposts (News Snippets)

Server Maintenance – We will be performing several upgrades to our servers to enhance stability and performance. The maintenance is scheduled to last two (2) hours, beginning on the morning of March 6 at 08:00 AM and ending at 10:00 AM. Connectivity during this window will be intermittent and SoPlett might be offline for as long as 90 minutes.

As always, we will do everything we can to keep the interruptions to an absolute minimum.

We apologize for the short notice of this maintenance. It is critical, however, that the work be completed in as timely of a manner as possible to ensure increased stability.

Thanks – The SoPlett Team
Some killer whales were spotted in the bay on 28 Feb 2010… first time in a year (apparently). Read more here
Unnoficial measurements peg the total rainfall last night+this morning at 7mm. This is not enough to make a significant difference to the current crisis so please continue to use water as sparingly as possible.