The splendour of Clivias in bloom. These flowers occur naturally in the forests of the Songimvelo Nature Reserve near the Swaziland border. Anyone interested to view the flowers could contact Johan Schoeman on 082-826-0645.

Due to the prevailing severe drought conditions, a decision was made to restrict farmers in the valley to 25 % of their annual allocated water consumption. 
To make things even worse, the 200 farmers, who make use of the De Kaapriver system, will probably have to fork out R7 million to pay for the installation of water meters on their farms in an effort to regulate consumption. 
Because this is such a sensitive issue Cas du Preez, chairman of the Kaapriver Valley major irrigation board urges all farmers to attend an information meeting to be held on October 11, at the Barberton Golf Club, to clarify the matter of payment of the water meters. 

Other items on the agenda are the recent water restrictions and the building of weirs in rivers. According to Du Preez these stringent measures are necessary, due to the worst drought experienced in more than 40 years. The day temperatures during the winter months were much higher and there was no rainfall. He said that during past years the water levels in the rivers also diminished due to the excessive cultivation of agricultural farmland. Volumetric water meters would have to be installed on all water pipes, including boreholes. 
This would assist the irrigation board in the measurement of water consumption from all rivers in the valley and enable them to take action, if necessary. Du Preez told the Barberton Times that if there were no significant precipitation within one week, further restrictions would be implemented. This would also have an effect on residents living on mining properties like Sheba, Consort and Fairview mines, who extract water from the rivers for gardening purpose. 

The construction of weirs in rivers will also be discussed at the meeting. According to Du Preez there is no storage capacity in the water system and the river water flows through to Mozambique. The investigation on the location of the weirs has been completed. The weirs would be built within the next three years and the irrigation board will be responsible for their maintenance. He said that the valley would not survive agriculturally without the construction of weirs.