Home PodcastAshraf Garda City has plans to end Johannesburg’s water crisis once and for all

City has plans to end Johannesburg’s water crisis once and for all

by Luqmaan Rawat
The city has a plan to end the water crisis Photo Pexels

Johannesburg – Johannesburg residents are being faced with two sheddings, on electricity and water. According to Ntshavheni Mukwevho, Joburg Water Managing Director, the water crisis is caused because of loadshedding but there are plans to provide residents with a steady supply of water.

Johannesburg’s recently elected mayor, Thapelo Amad, agrees there is a “huge crisis” but Joburg Water cannot be blamed entirely. Joburg Water is contracted to Rand Water which is failing to deliver water not just to Johannesburg but across the province.

Rand Water and its part in the water crisis

The issue is with the supply system. There are 100 intake points where water is supplied but two, the Commando system and the Crown Garden system, are problematic. The breakdown of these two are why the majority of residents are experiencing problems, explained Mukwevho.

“Those two systems are the ones that have been hit hard in the sense that they are supplying the high lying areas … There have been about 15 incidents that have happened since January. Around 90% of those 15 incidents are due to power failure which happened at Vaal [dam]. Due to the power failures it ended up impacting the ability to produce and pump water to Johannesburg.”

 Incidents of vandalism at the systems is another issue. Three acts of vandalism happened last week in Midvaal which severely impacted the water system, said Mukwevho. A combination of power failure and vandalism has left the city of Johannesburg with dry taps.

 

The way forward to end the crisis

The city of Johannesburg has been providing citizens with water tankers but such measures are only temporary. According to Mukwevho, the city has done all it can to ease the situation in Crown Gardens. It is now up to Rand Water to play their part.

“In our conversation with Rand Water, they have indicated some of the measures they are taking which involves engaging with their electricity supplier in Vaal. They supply energy consistently. They are ensuring they work together in the issue of power supply and making sure that particular plant is stable. We are waiting for the final announcement with regards to that.”

Within the next month or so that announcement should be made. The Crosby and Brixton reservoir situation is a bit more complicated than normal. The system relies on pressure from Rand Water but that will change in 18 months, said Mukwevho.

“We are looking at interim measures which are linking the Northcliff zone which should be done by the end of next week. That will help us in the interim … The way it operates [Northcliff zone] it relies on pressure from Rand Water. We don’t pump at all in that system. In about 18 months, the city will invest R402 million to make sure we bring a pump station so we don’t necessarily rely on pressure from Rand Water to get water around the area of Brixton.”

Amad has requested his team to write to the minister of water and sanitation and for the city manager to write to the MEC of the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) in order to resolve the situation once and for all.

Mukwevho indicated that since Friday Joburg Water has started supplying the larger area of Johannesburg South while supply to Robertsham had been restored by Sunday. Crown Gardens had seen a significant improvement since Sunday as well.

To hear more from Ntshavheni Mukwevho on the measures already taken to fix the water crisis, listen to the podcast here:

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