‘No water crisis but failing pipes, reservoirs’

The Democratic Alliance has launched a water campaign that will see an urgent motion in the Gauteng provincial legislature to debate the water crisis in the province before the next planned major Rand Water outage on 1 April.

Solly Msimanga, DA Gauteng spokesperson for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta), said Gauteng residents were faced with a severe water crisis due to Rand Water’s “incompetence and failure” to provide water tankers.

“This will result in many areas across Gauteng not having water. The areas that will be most affected are parts of Tshwane, Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Mogale City,” he said.

South African Business Water Chamber’s CEO Benoit le Roy said Rand Water had a water-use licence to produce a certain amount of water. “The minister was very explicit on Tuesday, we do not have a water crisis because the dams are full,” he said.

Le Roy said Rand Water couldn’t produce more water.

“The water-use licences were based on what the system yield is. There is a limit on the amount of water that can be reliably processed by Rand Water out of the Vaal system,” he said.

Le Roy said Rand Water understood the art of producing bulk water and sending it through to municipalities.

“The municipalities receive the bulk water and reticulate it. They then put the water into their pipe system and reservoirs. That system is in a very poor condition,” he said.

Le Roy said Johannesburg Water have lost 30% to 40% of water in physical leaks.

“For every 100 liters of water that Joburg Water buys from Rand Water 30l to 40l are lost due to leaks. So where is the problem,” he asked.

Water expert Professor Mike Muller said residents of Gauteng’s three metropolitan municipalities – Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni – generally have better water supplies than most other parts of the country.

“However, pipe breaks and electricity failures will always cause supply interruptions. It is the responsibility of the municipalities to ensure proper maintenance to reduce the number of service interruptions and to respond rapidly where there are problems,” he said.

Muller said if the interruptions were caused by failures of the bulk supply from Rand Water, the municipalities should be working with Rand Water to ensure that measures were taken to keep these interruptions to the minimum.

Water expert Professor Anthony Turton said the water campaign was political point-scoring and unhelpful.

“Rand Water is a world-class facility tasked with bulk water provision,” he said.

Turton said it was not Rand Water’s fault that municipal infrastructure in the country was failing.