Major metro areas are currently facing serious water restrictions and the City of Joburg is urging residents to use less water.
Ward 66 is one of the areas that has been affected by the water crisis and has been without water for more than three days. Councillor Carlos Da Rocha said residents were left without water because of bad planning and poor maintenance.
“I never thought that parts of my area would be without water due to drought,” he said. “I was not prepared for the situation. I knew we had water restrictions and made a point of letting my residents know what was happening with regular updates.
“But that was not enough as some reservoirs servicing certain areas, ran dry. Rand Water is restricting water and some suburbs across Johannesburg did not reduce water consumption.”
Da Rocha explained that it could take weeks to refill reservoirs that have run dry and it created a logistical nightmare.
“I made arrangements to move water tanks to the ward. I positioned them at strategic points, one in Bez Valley on the corner of 2nd Street and 8th Avenue, [another] one at Darras Centre in Juno Street at the corner of Kitchener Avenue and the other at the corner of Good Hope Street and Roberts Avenue in Kensington,” said Da Rocha.
He added that he was concerned because some residents in the area still did not respect the water restrictions. “I am alarmed at reports that some residents are still watering gardens with hosepipes. I’m also receiving reports that some residents are filling up their pools to overflowing levels.”
Da Rocha added that the water used to ‘fill up a swimming pool to overflow levels,’ could ‘fill up a tank of water for residents running out of drinking water.’
He said it was time that residents took responsibility for their actions and cut down on water usage.
The City urges residents to continue adhering to water restrictions and implement water saving measures.
Restrictions include:
- no watering of gardens during the day
- no use of hosepipes
- no filling of swimming pools.
Water saving measures include:
- fixing of leaking pipes
- taking five-minute showers instead of using a bathtub
- using a cup of water to brush teeth.
The Department of Water and Sanitation said it would release 200 million cubic metres of water from now until the end of December at rates of 20 cubic metres per second, running up to 70 cubic metres by December.
Read:
Water restrictions: How much do you use?
Joburg Water escalate water restrictions
