Our next major crisis will involve the taps running dry

As the northern parts of the country are roasted by heatwave conditions, it seems that South Africans need to start getting used to the fact that our next major crisis, following the Eskom debacle, will involve the taps running dry.

It has already started happening around parts of Johannesburg and, not surprisingly, those responsible for supplying us are accusing consumers of being too greedy.

While we are not denying that many, especially wealthier, areas waste huge amounts of water, the reason for the crisis is not increased demand. Nor is it the fact that the water pumps have been unable to run because of Eskom’s blackouts.

The reality is, as water expert Prof Anja du Plessis says, that the municipal infrastructure in Gauteng is 40 years old … but has only seen “minimal maintenance”, with the result that water is being frittered away through increasing numbers of burst pipes.

That failure to take care of existing infrastructure is down to our politicians – and most of them have been from the ANC for the past 28 years, although the Democratic Alliance has been in positions of influence long enough to have made a difference, but hasn’t.

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While we languish in stage 2 water restrictions ordered by Rand Water and then cascaded down to municipal level, it doesn’t help that communication from Joburg has been inconsistent.

In some of its tweets, it says people are banned from using hose pipes at all to water gardens, while in other statements it specifies that watering may only be done between 6pm and 6am, when heat and evaporation are much lower.

However, all of us need to acknowledge we live in a water-scarce part of the world and we need to conserve what we have, as well as using far less of the precious commodity in future.