Fears over looming water shutdown in Joburg

Leaking reservoirs in Gauteng are drying out fast

Nandi Ntini Social Justice News Reporter
Honeydew residents queue for water two weeks ago as taps run dry.
Honeydew residents queue for water two weeks ago as taps run dry.
Image: Sharon Seretlo

A day before Rand Water issued an alarm about impending water crisis in Gauteng, Joburg Water called an urgent meeting with councillors to ask for help in getting residents to lower their consumption.

According to the councillors who attended the meeting which was held on Friday, the water utilities told them to  advise their constituencies to use water sparingly to avoid a possible water outage in the city.

According to Nicole van Dyk, a ward 99 councillor who was at the meeting, the water utility revealed that some of its reservoirs are leaking, leading to water losses. However, the utility  did not disclose the names of those reservoirs that are leaking.

They just said to us we need to speak to our communities about their high consumption of water and that they should reduce their usage in order to prevent water outage
Nicole van Dyk, ward councillor

Vandalism and maintenance that was not up to date were given as reason for the leaks, she said.

According to Van Dyk,  from Cresta, Joburg Water "keeps blaming residents for the high usage".

"They just said to us we need to speak to our communities about their high consumption of water and that they should reduce their usage in order to prevent water outage," she said.

Another councillor who was also at the meeting said they were told that some areas were going to have a water shut down as Joburg Water needs to do some maintenance on the system. The utility said, however, that water tankers will be on standby.

"They wanted us to go back and notify our communities about the issue of the water crisis that they are currently facing. However, we asked them to take out proper communication to the residents so that they don't blame us for the water outage. They wanted us to notify communities of the expected water shutdown", said Thulani Buthelezi,  ward 130 councillor in Soweto.

A report presented by Joburg Water at the meeting highlighted that some of he city's reservoirs had declined at an alarming rate in days.

For example, the South Hills reservoir was at 42% on Monday but stood at 0% on Friday. The Berea reservoir was at 55% on Tuesday and had decreased to 17% on Friday.

In the areas worst affected, the water utility looked at tankers, roaming and stationary, as an alternative supply.

On Saturday, Rand Water raised an alarm about  impending water shortage throughout Gauteng due to excessive water withdrawals by municipalities.

The bulk water utility said it had repeatedly warned municipalities in the province about "this potential crisis".

It also cited a report that states that a lot if water in metros was being lost due to poor maintenance.

"The only viable solution to address this issue is through Water Conservation and Demand Management. In light of this, Rand Water has advised municipalities to reduce the physical losses of 33%."

 

City of Ekurhuleni's Zweli Dlamini said they have been implementing water demand management interventions for the past 10 years without being prompted to do so.

That has since resulted in the significant reduction of non-revenue water from 40% to 29%, Dlamini said.

"We are doing our best  we can to ensure that our people are educated on the issue of water preservation. We can only do so much. Every week we issue a statement where we talk about water preservation. It will not be enough until we are satisfied that we are winning the battle but will forever continue to educate our people," he said.

In Tshwane, however, the municipality may have to implement water restrictions if the consumption does not decline.

Spokesperson Selby Bokaba said they have never lifted their level restrictions as it has always been on level one.

However, if residents continue to use more water, they will be obliged to increase water restrictions, he said.

"We take part in community radio stations to sensitise our customers about restrictions and hints on being prudent with water use," said Bokaba.

According to Rand Water, it was anticipated that the situation would worsen with the ongoing heat wave.

However, forecaster Wayne Venter said the heatwave would come to an end soon and that there would be cooler temperatures soon.

"A the moment there is a very weak signal of above normal rainfall for our summer rains [in places] such as Gauteng. But what we are sure about... we are going to have above normal temperatures for November and December. At the moment there is uncertainly with regards to the rainfalls but there could be possibly above normal rainfalls," said Venter.

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