‘Catastrophic’ water insecurity looms for Johannesburg, warns WaterCAN

Water insecurity in Johannesburg and parts of the Gauteng will reach catastrophic levels in the coming years, warned WaterCAN executive manager Dr Ferrial Adam.

As Rand Water begins its extensive 37-day maintenance on its infrastructure across water systems in Gauteng, it has reignited the debate of the ageing and collapsing water infrastructure.

While this is a step in the right direction to prevent unfolding collapse in municipalities, Adam said it will exacerbate water challenges already experienced in Johannesburg over the past week.

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Areas in Soweto and suburban areas, including Randburg and Northcliff, are experiencing shortages with intermittent supply, while some areas have no water due to burst pipelines. She said Joburg Water also needed to get on board.

Until a programme is in place that can fix the infrastructure across Joburg with urgency, the crisis would remain bleak. “At this rate, we are going to have to deal with this for years. When you have a backlog, it is not surprising that we’re dealing with this now.

“It seems like a domino effect and seems never-ending. The reality is that residents need to brace themselves because this is going to go on for five or more years,” Adam said.

Rand Water maintenance

According to Rand Water, the maintenance is to improve the reliability and efficiency of its infrastructure. It started in Mogale over the weekend, but, according to the utility, routine pumping was not hampered because only one meter was affected.

The bulk of disruptions to services starts today as maintenance to the Eikenhof and Zwartkopjes pump systems gets underway. Adam said the infrastructure deterioration across the city of Joburg and the lack of maintenance for about 10 years was the cause of the frequent challenges in the city.

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“The city has not allocated sufficient funding to the maintenance of decaying infrastructure and this crisis has been developing for many years.

“They allocate about 5% to contractors, while 31% goes to staff. That leaves about three percent for the actual infrastructure itself,” Adam said.

Shortages

Gauteng has been experiencing major shortages with the water utility on 16 March informing the three metros – with a combined population of more than 13 million people – that its system was on the verge of collapse.

According to the utility, the latest maintenance work will expand to broader Gauteng, with implementation in the city of Ekurhuleni and the city of Tshwane in July. The maintenance occurs a week after the department of water and sanitation’s director-general, Dr Sean Philip, launched Platform for a Water Secure Gauteng (PWSG) to approach the stabilisation of all water providers.

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According to water expert prof Anthony Turton with the Centre for Environmental Management at the University of the Free State, the programme will, in part, develop the strategy needed to raise the necessary cash to reduce leaks, upgrade wastewater works, and pay for infrastructure repairs and upgrades.

‘Matter of urgency’

Anja du Plessis, associate professor and water management expert at Unisa, said the water insecurity risks needed to be addressed as a matter of urgency.

“We need to involve key role players and leaders from relevant departments, private sector and civil society to form an aligned understanding of the primary water insecurity causes and solutions,” she said.

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“We need to transform discussions into informed and strategically prioritised actions, by bringing identified leadership from public, private and civil society together.

“This can hopefully enable the implementation of actions with the emphasis on measureable results in the short, medium and long term.”

– thandon@citizen.co.za