Disaster relief organisation Gift of the Givers is lending a helping hand to the Amathole District Municipality (ADM) in East London, providing four truckloads of bottled water to ease the drought that has impacted the region since 2015.

This is after the municipality and University of Fort Hare vice-chancellor Professor Sakhela Buhlungu asked the organisation to step in.

The ADM was declared a drought disaster state in December 2015 and had put in place solution-orientated mechanisms, such as the procuring of water tankers to cart water in the affected villages and town, a Raymond Mhlaba Local Muncipality letter stated.

The situation has also widely affected students at the university.

Gift of the Givers distributed the bottled water in Adelaide on Wednesday.

"Bottled water delivery is only a stop-gap measure. More sustainable long-term solutions require the drilling of boreholes in the event no other source of water is immediately available," Gift of Givers said.

In another major development, Makhanda will be completely out of water on the west side at the end of April, it said.

SPECIAL REPORT | Makhanda: The day the taps ran dry

Intervening in Makhanda, Gift of the Givers drilled 15 boreholes and provided bottled water, tanker water and potable borehole water through its massive borehole and filtration system at Ntsika School.

Effective intervention at Settlers' monument, permitted a graduation ceremony at Rhodes University to go ahead.