The drought that has gripped the country for months has reached boiling point, with the metro already implementing water restrictions.
With this in mind business owners met metro representatives at the City Meets Business meeting, at Germiston Lake, on Wednesday, to discuss the measures to be taken by the metro and businesses regarding the water crisis.
“The Minister of Water and Sanitation, Nomvula Mokonyane, has imposed a 15 per cent reduction on water consumption,” said the metro’s divisional head for water and sanitation planning, Kennedy Chihota.
“The reason for the reduction is due to the fact that the Integrated Vaal River System is sitting below 60 per cent, as opposed to the 80 per cent threshold for free supply without any restrictions.
“The moment it goes below 60 per cent, water restrictions have to kick-in.
“We are currently sitting at 55 per cent, as of August 2016.”
Chihota explained that the metro imposes water restrictions as instructed by the Department of Water and Sanitation.
“The department imposes the restrictions on Rand Water, and it then has to pass them on to its customers, which includes Ekurhuleni, Johannesburg and 15 other municipalities,” he said.
“We are engaging with the businesses and have identified other stakeholders, such as schools, hospitals and malls.
“The aim is to also engage with these stakeholders and to pass on the message of the water restrictions.”
The 15 per cent water reduction restriction is level one and, should this not be followed, level two of the restrictions will take effect.
“If we don’t reduce our consumption the restrictions will then escalate to the next level, which will mean everybody must reduce by 50 per cent,” explained Chihota.
“Level two is more stringent and may bring a lot of difficulties on everyone.
“Businesses consume 25 per cent of the water we sell on a daily basis, so it is important that we engage with them.”
Chihota also told the GCN that the metro has divided the restrictions into four categories: households, non-profit organisations, small and big businesses.
“Households have to keep their monthly water consumption at 25 kilolitres,” said Chihota.
“A 10 per cent penalty will apply for households that don’t adhere to the restrictions, a 20 per cent for non-profit organisations and institutions, 30 per cent for small businesses and 40 per cent for the big businesses.
”The business owners in attendance were also advised to explore alternative water sources, such as drilling of boreholes, rain water harvesting and grey water recycling.
The MMC for water and sanitation, Tiisetso Nketle, was also at the City Meets Business meeting and shared a few words of encouragement.
“We appeal to you, the business community, to play a meaningful role in reducing the water consumption demand by 15 per cent in your daily operation, by also fixing water leaks and exploring alternative water sources,” she said.
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