Hole in the Bucket: Any disruption to clean water supply could disrupt eThekwini's December holiday season. Photo: Delwyn Verasamy
Amid a national water crisis, Rand Water has revealed that 2.5 billion liters of the 5.2 billion liters it supplies to municipalities in Gauteng each day is lost to leaks, dilapidated structures and theft. .
Several communities in Johannesburg, including parts of Midrand, Winchester Hills, Soweto and Tshwane, have been without water for weeks, repeating problems experienced across Gauteng last summer.
At a joint press conference on Monday with the National Water and Sanitation Authority, the Gauteng Provincial Government and the City of Johannesburg, Rand Water Board Chairman Ramatheu Monikolo said the water utility supplies water to municipalities in the province. 48% said they are losing it every day.
Monicolo said municipalities were working with Rand Water to deal with the crisis, but the high temperatures had worsened the situation. He said an additional 150 million liters of water will be added to the system from April to maintain supplies, and a further 450 million liters per day will be added by the end of the financial year.
Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morello said the majority of the city's water losses were the result of leaking pipes and illegal connections.
This was a major concern for the city as it was unable to recover its losses. He said the city's 45 reservoirs were not in good condition and Johannesburg would need to find funding to maintain them.
The city is investing in the repair and refurbishment of 11 reservoirs, which will help improve water supply once the work is completed in the middle of next year, the mayor added.
Morello said the city's infrastructure is “too old” and said pipes in some areas of the city haven't been replaced in more than 50 years.
“We have to do something in terms of succession and I think we have tried to do something in that regard,” he said.
Last year, the City of Johannesburg approved a motion to obtain water from other sources rather than relying solely on Randwater. This meant that the city could potentially draw water from wells or underground rivers and springs to relieve pressure on Johannesburg Water, the city's public utility.
ANC councilor Masindi Mbenwa, who introduced the motion in parliament, said it could add between 35% and 45% of water to the system. The city needs to have a team of experts study the amount of groundwater, the cost of treating it, and predict how long the water will last.
On Monday, Mr Morello said the work had been completed and Johannesburg Water could soon submit a final report on the study, particularly on groundwater in Doornfontein and Ellis Park.
“We are also looking at a contract with Gautrain so we can capture the water they always have to drain and use that clean water to put back into our system. ” he said.
Water and Sanitation Minister Pemi Majodina said Gauteng's municipal crisis was due to municipalities failing to manage their own infrastructure.
“What we are experiencing in Gauteng, and all 11 municipalities in Gauteng, is self-inflicted suffering by municipalities that are unable to take the necessary steps to operate and maintain their reservoirs and water resources.” she stated.
Mr Majodina said Johannesburg's water demand continued to increase as a result of economic expansion and population growth, adding that the government had been anticipating this demand increase and had plans in place to address it since the 1980s.
Therefore, she said the main root cause of water supply disruptions in Johannesburg was that peak demand was close to, and in some cases exceeded, the available supply from Rand Water.
Mr Majodina said the supply and demand relationship for treated water in Johannesburg was “very tense” and the system was vulnerable to failures caused by electromechanical failures or spikes in demand due to heatwaves.
“The 2023 No Drop Report [the water and sanitation department] We found that water loss in Johannesburg was 35% compared to the international standard of 15%,” she said.
“Reducing water loss will require multiple initiatives by the city, including improving billing and revenue collection to increase funding available for maintenance and provide better incentives for using water efficiently. A proactive approach is required.”
Majodina will improve water flow by improving pressure management, replacing aging pipes that frequently burst, and installing water meters or replacing malfunctioning bulk and customer water meters. It also needs to be able to accurately measure and pinpoint the location of losses, he said.
Little appears to have changed since last summer, when then Water and Sanitation Minister Sentso Mchunu identified population growth and seasonal heat as reasons why Gauteng residents were facing water shortages.
At the time, Johannesburg Water senior network manager Logan Mansamy also cited the city's growing population as a reason, while chief operating officer Derrick Kgwale said high temperatures were exacerbating the crisis.
On Monday, Majodina Municipality Deputy Councilor David Mahlobo said residents should start pumping water.
In 2022, during his previous term as mayor, Mr Morello suggested that Johannesburg residents consider purchasing tanks to store water for drinking and cooking.
“Our proposal is that from now on, when we build buildings, even the roof design needs to be built in such a way that it actually captures water,” Mahlobo said on Monday.
This was supported by Majodina, who said that residents should not fill their tanks with tap water.
“Collect water from the rain. Don't fill it with our purified water,” she said.
Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi said the province needed to reduce water consumption at a faster pace or face the possibility of system collapse in the long term.
“It's in our best interest to reduce our water consumption. This is the red line Rand Water has given us. We're not just above the red line, we're well above the red line. “We need to move back toward that red line.”
“The last time we were well below that red line was in 2023, which shows that pulling back consumption is viable. We need to change attitudes, and changing attitudes is The sooner the better.”
Lesufi said the state doesn't want to be in a situation where it has to shut off water to residents and needs to invest in high-level communication programs to educate residents.
