Jozi heads for catastrophe

MANY SUBURBS HAVE HAD NO RUNNING WATER FOR MORE THAN A WEEK

Water restoration has been hampered by leaks

‘You cannot just flip a switch ... it goes through 12 400km of pipeline.’

Johannesburg is on the brink of a catastrophic water supply crisis, says executive manager of WaterCAN Dr Ferrial

Adam.

Rand Water and Johannesburg Water’s failure to adequately manage water resources has pushed the city to the edge, she adds.

Some residents are being forced to tolerate a second week without water due to the crippling of reservoirs in some parts of the city.

Samantha Perry from Blairgowrie said the water pressure in her suburb had reduced considerably on 3 March, then dried up.

“I’ve been washing in a halffilled basin every morning, not cooking unless it’s absolutely necessary and only washed my hair once since the outage, none of which is ideal,” she said.

City and Rand Water authorities have been absent, which Perry “finds appalling” because schools, clinics and people with babies and illnesses have had to cope in a heatwave with no water.

“Water restoration has been hampered by ongoing major leaks due to ageing infrastructure that is not being adequately maintained. Where is our tax money going?” she asked.

Johannesburg Water spokesperson Nombuso Shabalala said the current water supply challenge was triggered by two incidents at Rand Water’s Eikenhof pump station due to City Power outages.

“These two incidents affected the stability of certain reservoirs within the Johannesburg Water system,” Shabalala said.

“About 50% of our systems in Johannesburg are supplied by the pump station, hence the impact we are seeing. Affected areas are in Randburg, Roodepoort, Soweto, Johannesburg South and Central,” she added.

Shabalala also highlighted “most areas have recovered, systems that are still recovering are the Linden 1 and Blairgowrie reservoirs that supply some areas in greater Randburg”.

Ward 99 councillor Nicole van Dyk said Rand Water and Joburg Water were investigating but had not given feedback yet.

Van Dyk said noone had been informing councillors about what was going on and when water supply would be properly restored.

She added business were being forced to close because they could not operate without water.

“Residents haven’t been able to bath [some] for nine days. We’ve spoken to a number of businesses that are struggling to stay open because they can’t go to toilets,” Van Dyk said.

Shabalala said the “systems will take time to recover”.

“This is because water is not like electricity. You cannot just flip a switch and it comes back on. Water goes through the 12 400km of pipeline of various systems around the city of Johannesburg.”

Mogale City said in statement there had been minimal improvement in their water system and its Water Services was continuing to plead with consumers to restrict consumption.

Increased water usage had dropped water levels in reservoirs at an alarming rate because they did not get a chance to fill up.

“As at this morning, the ... levels have only increased by 11.9% since last Tuesday, meaning both Rand Water and Mogale City’s systems remain under constant pressure,” Mogale City said. “Krugersdorp reservoir 2: 16%, Krugersdorp reservoir 3: 26% and Krugersdorp reservoir 4: 49%.

“These levels are adversely affecting reservoir levels in the Krugersdorp and Kenmare reservoirs which are currently at five percent, while Kagiso reservoir is at two percent. This makes it impossible for Water Services to pump water to respective areas for distribution.”

Blacfox Enterprises chief executive and artificial intelligence (AI) expert Kerushan Govender said 25% of water was lost through leaks in Johannesburg and this could be reduced dramatically by using AI systems.

“AI can help detect leaks in the entire distribution network. It can analyse flow data and pressure data [to] help reduce water loss.”

Adam said water shortages, nonrevenue water and high charges were a problem, emphasising the urgent need for action.

“The levels of reservoirs are at historic lows, posing a grave threat to the well-being of our communities. Some Joburg water reservoirs and towers were reported to be empty, with 14 at 10% or less,” she said.

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