As the drought threatens to engulf the country, the DA says that the metro has failed to take action to help curb the effects of the drought on its residents, who are now facing massive water restrictions.
The DA calls on the mayor, Clr Mondli Gungubele, and Rand Water to adhere to their responsibilities and address the residents of Ekurhuleni on why they have allowed thousands of litres of pure drinking water to go unchecked and failed to upgrade the infrastructure, leaving residents vulnerable.
In some parts of the metro, taps have run dry, with Rand Water struggling to keep up with water demand.
Two reservoirs have already run dry in the Bedfordview area.
Due to the system running on a gravity feed from the reservoirs, once the levels in the reservoirs have dropped, the pressure drops and the highest lying areas are the first to lose pressure.
“But, due to the metro’s notoriously bad planning, it has elected not to invest in a telemetric system.
“This system would indicate at what level the water in reservoirs is and when the valves should and should not be turned on or off,” said local DA councillors Tania Campbell, Jill Humphreys and Ashley Rutherford.
“Chaos reigns as engineers are using their best ‘guesswork’ as to how full the reservoirs are.
“On the basis of this, instructions are issued as to which valves should be operated and, once emptied, it is extremely difficult to get back to the correct volumes and pressures needed to refill.
“With empty reservoirs, residents receive conflicting and incorrect information about available water points, as the taps dry up in Bedfordview, Primrose Hill, Primrose and Sunnyridge.
“More areas will be affected overnight.”
The councillors added that the metro sent out information about water tankers to be placed at strategic points for desperate residents to fill their buckets and containers.
“Shockingly, the metro’s media department listed roads and intersections that do not exist, and then failed to place any of the tankers anywhere, until 24 hours later,” the councillors said.
“Once these tankers were emptied, it took another 24 hours before they were refilled.
“On top of that, three of them were leaking.
“This mirrors the failing infrastructure of the metro, which spends R600-million a year on lost and un-accounted for water, which is currently sitting at over 36 per cent.
“The official answers from the department remain: ‘Rand Water does not have the capacity to refill our two reservoirs and residents are using more than is available.’
“However, there was no warning issued to residents regarding a scarcity of water, until this disaster struck.
“Residents are now in a panic, having received very little communication from the metro regarding other areas that may be affected by water shortages.”
The councillors added that they have been inundated with calls from residents wanting answers, but it’s been extremely difficult to relay any accurate information to them, due to a lack of competence from the water and energy department.
“At a recent council meeting, the executive mayor vehemently denied that there was a problem with water leaks in Ekurhuleni and challenged the DA to report any leaks directly to him.
“This is an encounter he quickly regretted, as the DA relentlessly reported complaints of unchecked water leaks and faulty water meters, which are now fuelling the water shortage issue.
“Repairing a water meter in the metro can take up to four days and water leaks take up to four months,” the councillors said.
“Furthermore, the metro has yet to appoint a contractor to repair water leaks.
“So, while some residents struggle to get a few drops of water out of their taps, which is a basic human right, other communities face a catastrophe with thousands of litres of fresh drinking water being washed down the streets because there isn’t a contractor to repair the faults.”
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No water restrictions yet, says metro
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