The reason for any potential water shedding is that since 1994, millions of people have been added to the water grid with very little thought given to increasing the capacity of water storage. Combined with mismanagement of water, non-payment for water, water wastage through neglect and poor governance, the country is facing a high noon of water shortages, which may come into effect as soon as a few months.
* Where does our drinking water originate from?
The Vaal Dam was built in the 1930’s to catch and supply water to the economic heartland of South Africa. The dam’s billion cubic metres of water supply most of Gauteng’s drinking water, but recently became ringed by heavy industry, mining, farming and human settlements. Each releases its own pollutants into the dam and a breakdown in the Vaal Dam sewage management is polluting the water for 10-million people in Gauteng.
* Who is responsible for the pollution?
In often heated discussions, exasperated government officials argue with each other about the causes of pollution and ways to stop them. When questions are raised, polite answers that allude to overriding political concerns are usually given.
Old mines south of the dam have been allowed to continue polluting the Wilge River, which brings water from Lesotho to the Vaal. New gold and coal mines have been given prospecting licences by the mineral resources department along the dam’s eastern shore. The mines south of Heidelberg are going ahead despite opposition from Rand Water and water affairs about being in a critical water catchment area.
Rand Water says in its quarterly report released in April that the most significant “water quality challenges” are biological (from faecal matter) and chemical (from gold mining and industrial pollutants). It says that the majority of municipalities around the dam are in contravention of the National Water Act because they are releasing unsafe levels of ammonia and E.coli. The co-operative governance department and municipality did not respond to questions about these contraventions.
* How are consumers affected?
The pollutants in the dam can lead to cancer, birth defects, skin problems and brain damage in the long term.
* Is our drinking water safe for consumption?
The government has a benchmark for international standards namely the Blue Drop Certification, which monitors the quality of drinking water. But of the 931 water systems within South Africa’s 153 municipalities audited in 2012, only 98 (including Nigel) were given Blue Drop approval.
According to a statement released by Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM) the metro’s drinking water remains the best in the country. “This is confirmed by the municipality having received the Blue Drop status four years in a row and currently being recognised as number one in the country in terms of the quality of drinking water.” Sam Modiba said.
However, the 2010 minutes of the Blesbokspruit Water Forum, which contained quarterly water quality status bulletins for the whole catchment area, revealed that almost every reading along the dam and in its two subsidiary rivers indicated dangerously elevated levels of ammonia, chloride, nitrate, phosphate, sulphate, E.coli and other pollutants.
The drinking water provider to Gauteng, Rand Water, has to purify the water it sources from the Vaal Dam and the he water affairs department’s policy on this is dubbed “fixing pollution with dilution”. When the water becomes too polluted, more water is allowed to flow through the Vaal. This is despite South Africa being the 30th driest country in the world.
* Looking at solutions
The Ekurhuleni municipality says it will invest R200 million in building water reservoirs to alleviate water shortages similar to those experienced last year. Most parts of the region were hit by water shortages for almost a month owing to technical glitches.
“That experience has resulted in almost a month-long water supply interruption in parts of the Gauteng province, which has posed a challenge to all municipalities to better prepare themselves for such incidences,” municipality spokesman Themba Gadebe said.
He added that the municipality has developed a water management plan to cater for such events.
“One component in the plan is the exploration of an early warning system which would be used to indicate dropping water levels in our storage reservoirs and allowing for speedy intervention. This will be achieved through a telemetric type system that will synchronise all reservoirs in Ekurhuleni, making it easy to divert water from one supply zone to another.”
“This process will also include the harmonisation of the municipal underground infrastructure so that municipal potable water supply zones are aligned to enable to distribute potable water from one supply zone to another, where practically possible,” Gadebe explained.
Part of the plan would include building several water reservoirs in anticipation of future supply risk and population growth due to urbanisation.
