OR Tambo municipality enters into partnership to address water challenges
OR Tambo district municipal bosses have entered into a partnership with the Water Research Commission as part of their efforts to speed up the provision of clean drinking water to its communities.
Bongani Matomela, a director in OR Tambo district municipal manager Owen Hlazo’s office, said the district authority still faced huge water and sanitation backlogs. Partners were needed to help craft innovative ways to address those backlogs.
“Our area has various issues; some areas have droughts while others have high rainfall, so we need to use the research so we can supply the basic water and sanitation needs of our people and improve their lives.
“The pandemic exposed that we need to accelerate those programmes,” Matomela said.
“The other pandemic we might face as a country is a water crisis.”
He said it was important that people were made aware of the numerous options available instead of always just relying on surface water supply.
A memorandum of understanding was signed between the two institutions in Pretoria last week.
It is envisaged that the partnership could help provide a blueprint in ensuring water security not only in the country but in the rest of the African continent.
The commission’s CEO, Dhesigen Naidoo, said they had previously worked with Salga as their primary partner, but had decided to partner with the district municipality to help it overcome its water and sanitation challenges.
“What we have done before is to organise the best information, to develop the best research and to develop the best innovations to make it possible for us to be more water secure,” he said.
“The partnership with the OR Tambo district municipality is something that takes us to the next step.”
He said the focus of the partnership would include best research and innovation on how to deal with issues of water leaks, introducing new sanitation and augmenting water supply in smart and novel ways.
However, he said the partnership would not only be about finding lasting solutions to the OR Tambo district municipality’s own water challenges.
“We want to develop a model implementation that other people can learn from and be supported throughout the continent in the same powerful way.
“We are looking forward first to build the kind of water security that is needed in a district municipality.”
Naidoo said this would have to be focused on the large agricultural footprint of the district municipality.
The OR Tambo district was identified as a pilot site for the state’s new district development model in which all role players in the three spheres of government would combine resources on planning and implementation of service delivery projects instead of working in silos.
When launching the initiative in 2019, President Cyril Ramaphosa said he wanted to hear about a bridge being built in a rural place in Lusikisiki while sitting comfortably in his office in Pretoria.
Matomela said the bond between the municipality and the water commission could even see a poor rural district like OR Tambo playing a fundamental role in influencing policy direction on water issues in SA.
Naidoo said water security for OR Tambo could help boost economic activity in the district.
He said a steady water supply could spark business development and help address unemployment.