With the recent spate of leaking pipes reported to Johannesburg Water (JW) residents can rest assured that the water utility is looking after the precious resource.
Spokesperson for JW, Eleanor Mavimbela said that the combined level of all the dams supplying water into Johannesburg was well above the 60 per cent level. “Although this is not ideal and the dams are lower than this time last year it is still sufficient not to become a crisis,” she said.
Mavimbela pointed out that Johannesburg Water was continuously putting effort into all its water demand management initiatives to ensure that available water was utilised correctly and wastage is minimal. “These initiatives include pressure management, water pipe replacement, retrofitting of leaking plumbing fittings of households in Soweto and now recently schools in the Johannesburg area. We are also still enforcing level 2 restrictions which should continue until we get decent rain and dam levels recuperate to acceptable levels,” she added.
Mavimbela explained that education campaigns were done in hot spot areas to educate residents on water demand management and how to use water wisely. “What is also noteworthy is that in 2013/14 the City’s average daily demand was 1576 Ml/day now 2 years later it is 1573Ml/day. Although the reduction is small it is going down which means that in spite of the growth in Joburg over the past 2 years, residents are starting to use less water,” she said.
She announced that JW had undertaken conditional assessments of all its infrastructure assets as part of its Asset Management Programme. “These assessments assist in identifying infrastructure that has reached the end of their lifespan and is due for replacement,” she said. In addition, Mavimbela said that hydraulic modelling assists in identifying capacity constraints which inform where the system requires upgrading and extension in order to support the growth of the city. “The upgrading and renewal initiatives are prioritised and aligned to the strategic objectives of the JW and the City of Joburg in order to meet it service delivery objectives,” Mavimbela pointed out.
Details: Joburg Water, 011 688 1400 alternatively customer@jwater.co.za
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