Causes of water shortage explained by Rand Water
Rand Water announced causes for water crisis during urgent meeting held with DA on Thursday afternoon, September 25.
On Thursday September 25, DA parliament members and Rand Water executives called an urgent meeting to explain the cause of the water shortage, separating rumours from facts.
Rand Water General Manager of Operations, Mduduzi Mkhize said it is not true that Rand Water owes Eskom or the municipality money for electricity.
Rand Water also assured the public that it has seen an improvement in water supply, but do not want to promise a specific date when water will be available to everyone again.This is because Rand Water is still working on various scenarios before they will be able to give feedback of an exact date when water supply will be back to normal.
“There are two major causes to the problem, which affected several suburbs in the Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni Municipalities, one being power challenges and the other high demand season,” said Mkhize.
Power challenges have been caused by power failures, insufficient power supply and theft which has contributed to the staggering problem. These challenges have been exacerbated by the high demand season.
Mkhize said Rand Water experiences a high demand during summer, with maximum demand during August, September and January. This of influenced by what people do with the water like watering gardens.
“For instance, Rand Water experiences a rise in the demand during January, because that is the time when most factories and schools re-open,” said Mkhize.
“What people must know It is a challenge for Rand Water to fill up all the reservoirs, not only because we are in a high demand season, but because as the water goes into the reservoirs, it goes out immediately because a lot of people use the water, making the increase in the reservoir not sufficient.
“On top of that, the people living on the higher slopes in some of the suburbs do not get water, because a reservoir needs to be about 50 per cent full before it can supply the higher areas.”
Dr Fawcett Ngoatje said that Rand Water is currently in talks with the municipalities, and they want to have a date when all the municipalities, City Power, Eskom, Rand Water and the portfolio community could discuss this matter.
