Hope is scarce without water

Desperate to offer hope for ward 90 residents left high and dry by the latest outage, I have been harassing Johannesburg Water (JW) and scouring recent official documents for positive signs.

Friday’s Rand Water “death by PowerPoint” imbizo was crammed with informative diagrams but offered nothing to alleviate the problem brewing from Thursday at JW’s Parktown 2 reservoir.

Levels have remained “critically low” – below 20% – for six days. Supplied by Rand Water, Parktown 2 feeds Berea and Dunkeld reservoirs.

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There is also a line from Parktown 2 that runs past Dunkeld reservoir to parts of Illovo and Hyde Park. Dunkeld reservoir feeds Dunkeld, Dunkeld West and Craighall Park.

The upper parts of these suburbs have recently had terrible supply. Illovo, the highest point in the Sandton water system, has been worst hit.

Communication from JW has been inadequate, considering the plight of paying customers.

I raised these issues during online meetings with senior Joburg Water officials on Monday and yesterday.

It was like water off a duck’s back. JW just don’t get it. Communication remains infrequent and repetitive. Reservoir levels are “critically low” and supply “constrained”.

Most annoying has been the inability of JW to find the underlying cause(s).

When they say demand exceeds supply, demand does not refer only to what residents are using.

Demand includes leaks (detected and hidden), valves mistakenly left open and so on. Since Thursday, JW’s usual techniques have been unable to find the problem.

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On Monday, JW began other interventions, diverting here and there, opening and closing different valves.

When hydrants are opened in this process, residents fire off angry messages.

Unable to detect signs of hope in these meetings and repetitive practices, I sought solace in the Joburg Water Turnaround Strategy 2024 tabled in council in July.

Not much joy there, amid reminders of a 30% increase in the frequency of water mains bursts between 2012 and 2022 and a “21% increase in non-revenue water from 38% to 46.1% between 2015 and 2023”.

JW is in a bad way.

Non-revenue water is a euphemism for what is killing JW financially. Too much water is lost, stolen or given away.

The turnaround strategy is an ambitious, detailed attempt to secure National Treasury backing, without which JW will surely fail.

The underperformance in dealing with current crises suggests some radical leadership shake-up is required.

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Which brings to mind this argument from a resident with a legal background. “Joburg Water’s written admission that it cannot meet water demand is arguably an admission of contraventions of the Water Services Act and constitution (failure to have a plan to meet demand and not meeting demand) that calls for City of Joburg to be put into administration followed by election of a new council.”

Well, not quite. At this stage, it might be difficult to prove that the whole City of Joburg administration has failed to the extent that it must be put into administration.

Yet, Joburg Water is a prime candidate for partial administration.

In partial administration, the provincial government may appoint an administrator to oversee specific aspects of municipal governance, such as water or electricity.

That might at least give some hope. Partially.