Thousands of kiloliters of water lost while residents suffer thirst
While many residents of Gauteng have been suffering from thirst in the past few weeks, around 2,000 kiloliters of water per second is bubbling out of three burst water supply pipes of Rand Water in the Kromvlei area between Midvaal and Alberton.
Rand Water’s Zwartkopjes pump station is located on a farm in Kromdraai.
A FF Plus delegation led by Amanda de Lange, Gauteng MPW, who paid an overview visit to this area, saw the waste of precious water for themselves and considers it criminal to waste water in this way.
In a media statement, De Lange explains that the water from the Vaal Dam is pumped by the Emfuleni local municipality, where it is distributed by pipeline to, among others, the Ekurhuleni and the Johannesburg metros, the Midvaal local municipality and other neighbouring municipalities.
Rand Water has apparently been aware of the burst water supply pipes for the past three years and has dug a water ditch across the farm to the Klip River to divert the wasted water.
It was also noticed that sewage from Rand Water’s housing complex was being dumped into the Klip River.
“The land around the dam poses a significant danger to children and residents of a nearby squatter camp who draw water from the dam for domestic use.
“The quality of the water can probably also pose health risks because it is not monitored,” explains De Lange.
According to residents of the area, the stream of water is also used to wash clothes.
“The FF Plus holds Rand Water directly responsible for this waste of water and its possible role in the recent water crisis that arose in the western suburbs of Johannesburg and the Mogale City local municipality.
“Apart from the problem at Rand Water’s Eikenhof pumping station, the water network is further harmed due to the massive water losses at the water plant in the Kromdraai area which lies at the top of the water network.
“The nearly eleven-day water shortage that Mogale City suffered from also follows shortly after the announcement by the (Gauteng or national?) Department of Cooperative Government and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) that Rand Water had to return R355 million to the national treasury because it was not used,” concludes De Lange.
