By Alex Patrick.
A year since Gauteng felt what many are referring to as a water crisis, the province is experiencing a heatwave, and consumption of water is expected to increase.
A year ago, the municipalities in Gauteng that get their water from Rand Water began to experience water outages. It started in high-lying areas, where the population was dense and the infrastructure was old.
Johannesburg was especially hard hit because all of its water comes from Rand Water through the Integrated Vaal River System – it does not have its own water source.
Its water infrastructure is inadequate because the reservoirs and towers have not been increased and maintained to keep up with the population, which grows by 4% annually. Water pipes in some areas are as old as 100 years, and pipe bursts are frequent, especially during water outages.
Public Safety MMC Mgcini Tshwaku spoke about the infrastructure in the wake of water outages on Wednesday. He said the pressure that came with switching water on and off was causing the old water pipes to break.
“If there’s air in the pipes, they have to turn the water off [and remove it], or the pressure could cause the pipes to explode.”
Last year, in September, Rand Water said an increase in water use during the heatwave was the cause of the outages. This met the ire of experts, who said the entity was mandated to supply residents, and Johannesburg Water should have planned for the increase in water use.
Rand Water was also marred by power trips at its major pumping stations.
The then Environment and Infrastructure Services MMC Michael Sun said that for every second the pump was out, it would take the water systems four hours to recover. The consecutive power trips caused outages for days, especially in the high-lying areas of the city centre.
This year, the water outages began in September.
Rand Water and Johannesburg Water again cautioned consumers that they needed to reduce consumption. This was despite 25% of the drinking water being lost through leaks in the reticulation.
The outages continued in some suburbs for as long as six weeks until Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu ordered water shifting. This is a sharing of water from a water-positive reservoir to an area with a deficit.
It has, however, not completely fixed the issue.
Mchunu asked Rand Water and Gauteng municipalities to come up with a long-term plan to mitigate the situation, but they missed their deadline by a week.
Not satisfied with Rand Water’s response, the DA surprised the entity with a site inspection at its headquarters in Glenvista on Wednesday.
Rand Water did not let the DA in.
In a statement, the DA’s Solly Msimanga said the party was “deeply concerned” with the “lack of accountability and transparency.”
Msimanga said he was not surprised that CEO Sipho Mosai drove past the group instead of engaging them.
He said: Instead, the acting managing director, Tebogo Joala, insisted on meeting us outside – complete with his blue-light brigade and security personnel.
Msimanga said they wanted details of mid and long-term plans so the residents of Gauteng could, at the very least, know there was a plan to put water in their taps.
He insisted that the entity ensured transparent communication going forward so that residents were in the know about what was actually unfolding.
Msimanga said municipalities could not ensure water delivery because Rand Water could not communicate effectively.
He added that this did not absolve municipalities of their “contributory role in the mess”.
“The continued veil of secrecy at Rand Water and the arrogance displayed [on Wednesday] is truly astonishing. Public representatives are not protected, but Rand Water provides VIP protection and blue lights to their senior managers.
“They say they don’t answer to public representatives, the very people who face angry and desperate communities daily. The question is: is there a real sense of urgency to find long-term solutions to ensure that the taps of Gauteng residents don’t run dry?”
The DA has called for the CEO’s resignation.
Commenting on the incident, Makenosi Maroo, the spokesperson for Rand Water, said the entity was not involved in politics.
“Rand Water is a professional organisation that serves the needs and aspirations of all South Africans, with the ultimate intention of providing bulk potable water to municipalities, to enable them to provide water to cities as part of its constitutional mandate.”
She said the entity preferred to engage with stakeholders in a “constructive dialogue to find mutually beneficial solutions.”
“We, therefore, remind all stakeholders, including political parties, that should they wish to conduct an oversite visit to Rand Water, they must follow the legislative and regulatory framework governing oversite visits as prescribed by the legislature in which they serve,” she said.