Smart thinking is needed
TONY Ehrenreich’s comments are 100% correct.
The city council under mayor Patricia de Lille has completely and utterly failed in providing the most basic of needs – WATER SECURITY.
All the signs and indicators have been clearly visible, for many years, for the city to read and respond to, including undeniable climate change and rapid population growth.
Astonishingly, the city’s primary response has been to plead with households to use less than 87 litres of water per person per day… and to pray! That is not credible and convincing crisis management. That is not leadership. That is not the solution. Rather it is symptomatic of a total dereliction of duty to plan and deliver water to the people and businesses of Cape Town.
Why was the strategic planning not done years ago? Why were the budgets not put in place?
Why are infrastructure projects not being rolled out with the utmost urgency?
The mayor’s contingency measure to truck in water when the taps run dry, shows the complete lack of comprehension by the mayor and her advisers as to the seriousness of the situation and the impossible logistics of 30 000 tanker trucks delivering water daily from the hinterland.
Those who have held the “steering wheel” while driving the city recklessly to the edge of disaster, must step aside to allow more able leaders and technical experts to take over the controls and deliver us from economic collapse and civil chaos.
Water-supply augmentation infrastructure should already be pumping into the system, yet the city only put out a discussion document to solicit “ideas” a month ago.
Desalination is not just an option; it is an absolute and unavoidable necessity and it must be put in place on a significant scale of at least 200 million litres per day before the end of this “noshow” winter. The funds for this simply must be found through budget re-allocations or through debt facilities and spent as disaster pre-emption Capex. The price of failure, economic contraction and social disorder would be much, much higher.
A commission of inquiry should also be established comprising civic leaders, business leaders, planners and engineers – a team of wise men and women to investigate how it is that the City has failed the people of Cape Town so terribly and to generate recommendations to ensure we have a set of plans, actions and responsibilities which enable Cape Town to navigate through this disaster.