By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Minister of Water and Sanitation, Pemmy Majodina, has urged all the affected municipalities in the Free State to expedite plans to continue to provide water to during the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) tunnel shutdown in the next two weeks.
The transfer tunnel links the Katse dam with the Muela power station and Muela dam and a delivery tunnel linking Muela dam with the Ash River Outfall works between Clarens and Bethlehem system, and was commissioned in January 1998.
The LHWP tunnel will undergo maintenance from 1 October 2024 to 31 March 2025.
She engaged with the Executive Mayors of Thabo Mofutsanyana and Fezile Dabi District Municipalities in Bethlehem.
Majodina was accompanied by Water and Sanitation Deputy Minister David Mahlobo, Deputy Minister of Performance, Monitoring and Evaluation Seiso Mohai, and Free State MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Saki Mokoena.
Majodina said, that during the outage, there will be no water deliveries from Lesotho to South Africa.
“It is therefore important for municipalities to ensure that water security measures are maintained and various water enforcements mechanisms like water restrictions are applied by the municipalities.
“Although some municipalities are still lagging behind in terms of their readiness, we as the department, are giving them the support that they need,” Majodina said.
The six-months shutdown will jointly be undertaken by the Lesotho Highlands Development Agency (LHDA, which operates and maintains Lesotho section of the LHWP tunnel system, and the Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority (TCTA) responsible for operation and maintenance of the section within South Africa.
The tunnel system requires general inspections and repair works to be conducted at approximately five year intervals to ensure the integrity and reliability of the entire water tunnel system.
Due to the tunnel shutdown, 700 million m3 per annum will be transferred in 2024, resulting in a shortfall of 80 million m3 from the normal annual transfer volume.
However, the Department of Water and Sanitation has embarked on relief interventions for municipalities along the Caledon River, Wilge River, Vaal River and Rhenoster River.
The interventions include the upgrading of water treatment works, upgrading of raw water pumps, upgrading of abstraction works, the construction of new reservoirs as well as the development of groundwater resources by drilling and equipping boreholes.