By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The City of Johannesburg is facing a severe water crisis due to high levels of non-revenue water, illegal connections and infrastructure problems.
Johannesburg Water held a media briefing on Thursday to address the current state of water supply in the city.
Residents in Coronationville, Melville, and Westbury took to the streets on Thursday morning to protest the lack of water in their areas.
Earlier this month, the Gauteng government cautioned that if the situation does not improve, residents may face dry taps throughout the festive season.
Gauteng’s water crisis has been escalated to the national Department of Water and Sanitation, as political leaders work to prevent taps from running dry.
During the briefing, Johannesburg Water acknowledged that there are issues affecting its infrastructure and indicated that normal operations should resume shortly.
The entity’s Operations Manager Logan Moonsamy cited demand and supply imbalances, which have been exacerbated by the hot weather.
“We are of the view if the system is maintained, normal operation will resume in the next two, three days in the affected areas,” Moonsamy said.
He added that the water utility will start medium-term water turnaround projects in February 2025.
While old infrastructure remains a primary concern, Moonsamy said there are multiple reasons for the ongoing water challenges, including overpopulation, urbanisation, hot weather, increased demand and leaks.
“Three-bedroom houses have been demolished and stands have been consolidated and student accommodations have taken up, back-up dwellings have just appeared because people are supplementing their incomes. The density of that population in that supply zone, noting our educational institutes are in the close facility, comprises a lot of densely populated areas, where previously you have a family of five or six people [but] now because they built a student accommodation, you have 200.”
He added that the emergence of larger populations significantly strains the water supply and sewer network.
Moonsamy also said illegal connections, non-revenue consumption, and non-payment of municipal bills were additional factors.
He explained that Johannesburg Water’s immediate plans – which includes pressure management, smart technology use, improved response time, leak detection, credit control, disconnections, and isolation of bursts – are not designed to resolve all water challenges immediately.
“There is no quick fix solution for infrastructure upgrades in terms of pipe replacement and reservoir structure repairs,” he admitted.
“We are employing smart technology in the form of smart controllers – these smart controllers are intelligent devices that are bolted onto the pressure reducing valves. They reduce pressures at night when the system pressures and losses are the highest,” he explained.
In an effort to curb the water crisis, Gauteng imposed level 1 water restrictions.
Moonsamy added that on 1 December, Johannesburg Water will implement associated level 1 water tariffs.
The level 1 restrictions, introduced on 1 September, prohibit daily water-related activities for 12 hours daily.
Moonsamy noted that if the current restrictions are not effective, they may be increased to level 2 or level 3.