Minister of Water and Sanitation Pemi Majodina; (DWS/X)
Water and Sanitation Minister Pemmy Majodina told Parliament's plenary session on Tuesday that South Africa was not facing a water crisis, but the availability of drinking water could “rapidly deteriorate” as demand increases. he added.
But water management is problematic and consumers, including local governments, need to use resources more carefully, she said.
“If we want to avoid water scarcity in the future, South Africans need to change their behavior and treat water like a scarce resource,” Majodina said, adding that she often says about the country's relationship with water. repeated.
“Local governments must fix leaks in their water distribution systems. We cannot afford to waste almost half of the water that comes to municipalities due to leaks,” she said.
Majodinas' statement comes a day after the Constitutional Court announced that physical hearings or hearing cases inside the courtroom must be suspended from November 1 due to the unreliable water supply in the court building. It was done.
The court said in a statement that the exact cause of the “water supply issue” is unknown, but it appears to be common in the Hillbrow area, where the court is located. A leak was also detected in the courthouse's water system, which was addressed by plumbers.
“Water tanks have been installed at the courthouse for ablution facilities, but this back-up water supply only lasts for one working day and the City of Johannesburg has to quickly ensure that courthouse operations continue uninterrupted on a daily basis. Water cannot be replenished. As a result, courts are unable to hold physical hearings or court hearings.
“The Constitutional Court's administration is in regular contact with the City of Johannesburg and Rand Water regarding ongoing water supply issues in the Hillbrow area. As further information becomes available, the court will update court users. “We plan to do so,” the court said.
Municipalities across the country are struggling to provide drinking water to their residents, the result of years of neglect and underspending on infrastructure, particularly in Johannesburg's Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal's EThekwini metros. It has been hard hit, experiencing weekly power outages that anger ratepayers. And it damages the trust of the company.
The water supply interruptions in both of these large cities and surrounding municipalities were due, in part, to rapidly increasing demand and population growth. [increased] It’s a leak in the city’s water distribution system,” Majodina said.
Water losses in Gauteng municipalities averaged 33%, she said. In eThekwini, the average was around 45%. The international standard is 15%.
“Water leakage is the result of a lack of funding for infrastructure development by municipalities, which is partly due to weaknesses in municipal water billing and collection,” the minister said.
According to the Water Board's own Drop Report, 46% of South Africa's water systems do not meet safety standards, 67.6% of wastewater treatment systems have failed and 47.4% of the country's water is lost or unaccounted for. It has become.
New dams are being built and others are being improved, but Majodina said there are limits to this.
“We already utilize about 75% of our available surface water resources, and the remaining opportunities to capture surface water with large dams are costly.
“Expanding South Africa's water resource mix is therefore critical to water security. We will increase the sustainable use of groundwater, make greater use of seawater desalination in coastal towns and cities, and We need to diversify our water resource mix by reusing water from urban sewage treatment systems,” she said.
The “scaling up” of water mixing has been under consideration for more than a decade, at least since the last full water drop report was published in 2014, but the lack of haste in action has so far led to the ANC-led This is said to be a major failure of the government. For water experts and activists.
Majodina said the reduction in water supplies at the municipal level occurred “despite the high level of support from the central government.” This includes providing more than R60 billion a year in subsidies for water and sanitation infrastructure and free basic water for the poor.
“The solution is not for the state to take over the water functions of local governments; they have to make them work better,” she said.
Reforms should focus on ensuring that municipal water services are professionally run and financially sustainable, and should include strong measures such as the proposed Water Services Reform Bill. He said this should be supported by legislative measures, which would require municipal water service providers to obtain operating licenses to ensure basic capacity.
Further reforms in the Treasury should require that revenues from water services be reinvested in those services, with subsidy conditions that encourage better management and financial sustainability.
Responding to Mr Majodina's speech, Democratic Alliance deputy spokesperson for water Stephen Moore said ministers were aware of which municipalities were not up to the task. He revealed their names and said the delinquents could be taken to court.
Mr Moore added that addressing the crisis at local government level requires increased accountability, improved local government management and a collaborative approach from central government departments.
In their responses to Majodina, the United Democratic Movement, the Inkatha Freedom Party and the African Christian Democratic Party all called on the minister to recognize the crisis.
Freedom Front Plus' Wouter Wessels said water loss and infrastructure are problems that need to be solved, not consumers to blame.
Public sectors and organizations are notorious for water loss, and it all happens under government oversight, he said, adding: “That's where we should start.”
Mr Wessels said some towns in the Free State had been without water for 14 days.
A survey conducted by Freedom Front Plus in December found that 38 towns in the Free State had “no or very limited access to water.” The party said at the time that Paris' water supply was not working optimally, with some residents without water for 40 days.
The party said towns such as Weppener, Ventersburg, Brandfort, Theunissen, Wimburg and Edenville have been without water for more than two months.
Mr Wessels told Majodina that there was “no hope” for some small towns in the Free State.
“There was a certain intervention in boreholes, but the authorities could not provide the necessary equipment. It is not because of increased consumption or people's wastefulness,” he said.
