Water crisis: Gauteng residents told to take 3 min showers and not water gardens until 8pm

Gardens and Gauteng government facilities may look a little drier this summer after Rand Water Group Chief Executive Sipho Mosai called for a temporary ban to save water.

The land-locked province has over 15.5 million residents in nearly 6 million households, stretching resources and threatening reserves.

Gauteng residents have since September 1 been under restrictions, including a ban on watering gardens between 6 am and 6 pm.

However, residents in several parts of the city have been told these hours have now been extended to 8pm and car washes are only permitted on weekends.

They were further told to “limit shower time to 3 minutes”.

Further bans

Mosai told a Water Imbizo on Friday that these restrictions should be enforced and a moratorium on irrigating public facilities until March 2025.

He also called for “the disconnection of illegal connections supplying residential areas and illegal mines”.

This follows the Department of Water and Sanitation’s spokesperson Mandla Mathebula telling The Citizen that tariffs may be introduced to encourage conservation.

Rand Water owed billions and draw more water than allowed

Mosai said Rand Water is under growing financial strain, with municipalities owing the utility more than R5 billion in unpaid debt.

ALSO READ: Municipal debt at R22bn: These areas could run out of water as boards go bankrupt

While, in operations, it was drawing more from reserves and systems than it was allocated.

“The Department of Water and Sanitation has approved an annual abstraction limit of 1 600 million cubic meters (4 384 megalitres per day) from the Integrated Vaal River System”.

But the system is worse off than it was last year

However, the Integrated Vaal River System is itself under pressure.

The Citizen recently reported that it stood at 78.2%, down from 79.1% a week earlier and 93.5% last year.

The Vaal Dam, which is a key part of the system, was below half capacity (45.2%) and declining by the week.

This was more worrying given it stood at 85.7% capacity at the same time last year.

ALSO READ: Vaal Dam water levels drop further below half, much lower than last year

What can be done to save our water?

Water resources scientist Carin Bosman said this was a critical concern amid a lengthy dry season and climate change.

“We don’t have any control over when the rainy season starts, and whatever is left in the dams have to last us until that happens, so we urgently need to implement interventions,” Bosman told The Citizen.

She proposed imposing hefty fines or imprisonment for officials found guilty of corruption and wastage, ringfencing money from utilities for water infrastructure, and hiring only competent engineers and scientists.

Additional reporting by Enkosi Selane

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