August 27 to September 1 was World Water Week.
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The week focused on finding better ways to use the world’s increasingly scarce fresh water resources.
This year’s theme was “Water and waste: reduce and reuse”.
In support of World Water Week, Johannesburg Water reflected on the scarcity of water in the city.
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It has put a number of interventions in place to reduce high water demand in Joburg.
The city implemented a water pipe replacement programme that took place in the past five years.
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“By the end of June, 499km of water pipes had been replaced. In the next five years, Johannesburg Water plans to replace a further 633km of water pipes. In replacing these pipes the burst frequencies will be reduced and water losses will be minimised,” said MMC for Environment and Infrastructure Services Department, Clr Nico de Jager.
Another way to address the water demand is to control the water pressure.
De Jager said, “Pressure management is an effective way to control the amount of water lost in a system. This can be implemented without compromising the levels of service at the target or critical points.
“The aim of the programme is to reduce excessive night-time water pressure in order to decrease background leaks and to limit unnecessary pipe bursts. A reduction in pressure can mean a significant reduction in real losses through leaks. Johannesburg Water has more than 500 pressure-reducing valves in its system.”
Johannesburg Water further identified 170 new Pressure Management Areas (PMA) and prioritised 20 of them to be implemented in the 2017/18 financial year at a cost of R10-million.
Joburg Water also has active and passive leak detection teams.
These teams survey more than 10 000km of water reticulation per annum, to identify leaks in the system that are either not reported through the customer interface or not visible. Various technologies and equipment are used by Johannesburg Water to identify these invisible leaks. All identified leaks are reported and repaired within the agreed response times by technical teams.
“We would like to remind the residents that watering times for gardens will change back to between 6am and 6pm from September 1, as per the water restrictions stipulated in section 44 (3) of the Water Services By-laws,” said De Jager.
He said it is still prohibited to use hosepipes to clean paved areas and driveways with municipal water. He urged residents to continue to use water wisely and to remain active partners in reducing the amount of water used within the city.
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