Water crisis turns into political spat
Residents being kept in the dark, says Cosatu
APOLITICAL spat has developed over the City’s water crisis with Cosatu accusing Mayor Patricia de Lille of keeping residents in the dark about the true extent of the shortage.
Cosatu provincial secretary Tony Ehrenreich said the poor would suffer most if the dams ran dry. He accused De Lille of shooting the messenger with reference to Rashied Khan, the regional Water and Sanitation manager, who had said the City wasn’t taking the water crisis seriously.
“The focus should be on the water situation and how we can mitigate it when it runs out. This has been a growing problem, but little was done to augment supply. So as we speak there is little or no desalination, little or no recycling, little or no aquifer harvesting, little or no dam augmentation,” said Ehrenreich.
“Even if they had short-term relief measures in place, they would only supply around 50 million litres a day, so the other 550 million litres would have to be trucked in with 30 000 tankers a day that they do not have. The City is not giving people water tanks so they can harvest their own water. The City is not putting in place a sea water sanitation system that would significantly reduce the usage of fresh water in the City.
“So Madam Mayor, it does not matter how much you crucify the messengers, there is a serious water crisis in Cape Town. This crisis will lead to disease and death and conflict if not responded to urgently. We need an urgent plan driven by leadership and collaboration. Insults are not going to build hope in a populace that is really concerned about the crisis,” Ehrenreich said.
In an earlier letter of response, De Lille said: “The City has a water resilience plan – a new, urgent approach – because we will not allow a well-run City to run out of water. I will be making further announcements on this plan in mid-August.
“The City of Cape Town is doing emergency drilling of boreholes into the Table Mountain Group Aquifer; a small-scale desalination plant; a small-scale water re-use for drinking plant; and drilling and expanding a well field into the Cape Flats.
“We put out a request for ideas/information (RFI) to the market for proposed solutions to supply potable water. We received more than 100 submissions through our RFI process. It is envisaged that the first plants will be available for production in the coming weeks.”
Meanwhile, the South African Weather Service has predicted a 30% probability of rain today.
COSATU is concerned about Mayor Patrica de Lille’s attitude to the water crisis, because by ignoring it, we are going to run out of water. Cosatu has filed a Section 77 against the City because its members cannot buy water at the shops when it runs out, we depend on public supply.
The mayor threatens and insults the bearer of bad news in the vain attempt that the bad news will disappear.
The actual focus should be on the water situation and how we can mitigate it when it runs out. The fact that we are facing a crisis is borne out by the mayor’s actions and the facts she presents.
The mayor put out a request for ideas three months ago, which closed in July. This means there is a chronic shortage of water and the City has no idea what to do.
If the City were on top of things, it would have been aware that we are facing a crisis of supply in water for a number of reasons – global warming effects, not sufficient storage capacity, and greater demand from more people.
This has been a growing problem but little was done, as at this point, to augment supply. So as we speak there is little or no desalination, little or no recycling, little or no aquifer harvesting, little or no dam augmentation. Even if they had that short-term relief measures in place, it would only supply around 50 million litres a day. The other 550 million litres would have to be trucked in by 30 000 tankers a day , which it does not have.
There is a lot of talk and disaster committees set up, but little has actually been done.
There was R7 million spent towards addressing the problem because of money shortages , but R30m is spent on soccer matches , R50m is spent on World Design Capital, and a R200m advertising budget that is used to deceive people with false information.
The narrative of the well-run city that is promoted by the advertising budget, is exposed by the facts on the water situation.
The facts are that all things being equal to what it was last year, in terms of water income and usage, we will run out of water in March. The only thing that the City is doing is a demand management strategy that is more advertising. The demand management strategy calls for residents to only use 500 million litres a day, but residents are using 640 million litres a day – and it’s not even hot yet. There is a visit to the homes of people who use more than 100 kilolitres a month, which is above 600 litres per person per day in the average rich household.
Yet the rest of the city is called on to use only 87 litres a day, with the only deterrent being cost, as if an increased bill would stop most of the rich from using more.
The City is not putting the same usage restrictions on everyone that are equal and equitable.
The City is not giving people water tanks so they can harvest their own water.
The City is not putting in place a sea water sanitation system that would significantly reduce the usage of fresh water.
So, Madam Mayor, it does not matter how much you crucify the messengers, there is a serious water crisis in Cape Town. This water crisis will lead to disease and death and conflict if not responded to urgently.
We need an urgent plan driven by leadership and collaboration.
Insults are not going to build hope in a populace that is really concerned about the water crisis, in this well-run city.
ALL THINGS BEING EQUAL TO WHAT IT WAS LAST YEAR, IN TERMS OF WATER INCOME AND USAGE, WE WILL RUN OUT OF WATER IN MARCH. INSULTS ARE NOT GOING TO BUILD HOPE IN A POPULACE THAT IS REALLY CONCERNED ABOUT THE WATER CRISIS IN THIS WELLRUN CITY