Johannesburg Water to throttle supply from 14 November

Despite the Vaal Dam dropping to nearly 30% of its capacity, the minister of water and sanitation says Gauteng has more than enough water.

Minister Pemmy Majodina gave a briefing on Monday,11 November, to address fears that the province would run dry during the maintenance shutdown of the Lesotho Highland Water Project (LHWP).

The province’s liquid lifeblood has been a source of consternation, with officials and residents pointing blame in opposite directions.

Integrated Vaal River System (IVRS)

Majodina explained that even though the Vaal Dam was at 33%, it was just one natural storage facility in a vast supply system.

As previously reported by The Citizen, when the Vaal Dam reaches 18%, water is transferred from the Sterkfontein Dam, which registered at 97.7% of its full storage capacity as of 4 November.

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The minister highlighted that the province’s poor water outlook was a result of human errors and not nature.

“Gauteng has no drought. We are not in a drought situation in Gauteng. Yes, we are in a crisis. The crisis that is caused by lack of maintenance of the water infrastructure and illegal connections,” the minister said.

Focus on Johannesburg

Sitting alongside Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi and Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero, Majodina said the entities had formulated ways to address these challenges in Johannesburg.

The plan includes ringfencing revenues from the sale of water to residents, and “creating a single point of accountability for water functions in the city”.

“This intention is to give Johannesburg Water control over the functions related to managing water supply in the city so that it can be held accountable,” said the minister.

“However, given what was agreed upon yesterday, we can turn around the situation and the people of Gauteng will have water if they can also adhere to restriction level one,” said Majodina, adding that there will be weekly progress meetings.

Turnaround strategy

Johannesburg Water put forward several key deliverables that they are committed to in order to tighten up the leaks, among other things.

Opposition councillors have repeatedly stated that 46% of the city’s water is lost due to leaking and broken pipes.

Recent surveys showed that the 12 100km water network had 2 396 burst pipes, 6 727 leaking meters, 442 leaking valves and 259 leaking hydrants.

ALSO READ: Johannesburg Water with R37bn infrastructure backlog, DA calls for board to be dissolved

Johannesburg Water will begin throttling the water supply between 9pm and 4am from 14 November to allow struggling reservoirs to recover. During this period, taps will not run dry, however, water pressure is expected to be low.

They also plan to procure a panel of contractors for emergency repairs of large pipe leaks, as well as increase the number of standby teams.

Reducing leak repair times from 48 to 24 hours, increasing the number of vehicles, increasing the number of illegal connections disconnected and accelerating leak detection were all on the cards.

Additionally, Johannesburg Water will install 45 smart pressure controllers to assist with water losses.

Responsibility of residents

After addressing the entities involved, Majodina stressed that the user-pay principle must be respected by residents.

“Even if you think you have been overbilled, you must pay your obligation, pay your water while you are making queries or taking the matter up with the city,” she said.

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