Katse Dam, part of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project. Maintenance of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project will begin next month and continue until March 2025. (Photo by Adrian Greeman/Construction Photography/Avalon/Getty Images)
Maintenance on the Lesotho Highlands Water Project will begin next month and last until March 2025, but tunnel closures will have minimal impact on the Vaal Integrated Reservoir System (IVRS) as most dams are relatively full. the Water and Sanitation Bureau said. he said.
However, consumers are urged to use water sparingly, said ministry spokesperson Mandla Mathebula.
The reservoir system consists of 14 interconnected dams, including the Katse and Mohale dams in Lesotho, the Vaal dam, Sterkfontein dam, Grootdraai dam and Bloemhof dam in South Africa.
“Dams are interconnected by rivers, canals, tunnels, pipelines and pumping stations. [The department] We can manage the IVRS as a system and transfer water from one part of the system to another as needed,” said Mathebula.
A statement from the department said the closure of the tunnel for maintenance “will not disrupt the water supply to Rand Water and its customers, municipalities in Gauteng and other provinces.”
But WaterCan, a network of citizen science activists advocating for clean, safe and sustainable water supplies, says there are concerns in the Free State, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal and the North West.
“These states and many municipalities have historically had such poor performance on water and sanitation that it is difficult to be confident that they will be able to alleviate the situation for people without water.” Executive Manager Ferial Adamu said.
“And this is a very worrying issue. [water and sanitation] The Minister said, for example, that the Free State was lagging behind in its preparations. ”
Mathebula said emergency measures such as drilling boreholes in vulnerable towns were being taken to augment water supplies in certain areas.
“In the Free State province, the affected municipalities are Diraben Municipality (specifically Clarence town and surrounding farms), Nketuana Municipality (specifically Wrights) and Mahube Municipality (specifically Tweeling),” he said.
“A risk assessment was carried out to determine the impact of the closure on water availability in the affected towns and surrounding farms.”
Adam called for “very clear communication on a weekly basis about the status of maintenance and areas affected by water outages.”
“This also needs to be a preemptive communication, rather than waiting for a problem to occur and then only receiving communication. Governments can report lack of water so that people can receive water in a timely manner. We need clear measures in place. This is the time when the government needs to be on the scene,” she said.
“There must be clear details of alternative water sources and local authorities must support vulnerable people and communities to get water. Water tank supplies must be scrutinized and tanks must be There must be a timeline provided to people as to when they will be installed in the affected areas.”
Mr Adamu said another concern was the risk of corruption, with some people being made to pay for water from tankers.
Both Adam and Mathebula said it was important to plan maintenance for the summer as the rainy season would help address any shortfalls. In the worst-case scenario, the filled Sterkfontein dam would serve as a backup for the Vaal dam.
“Standard operating rules are that when the level of the Vaal dam drops below 18%, water is released from the Sterkfontein dam to the Vaal dam. It will be used to replenish the supply of water,” Mathebula said.
The water and sanitation department said the maintenance work was being overseen by the Lesotho Highlands Water Commission, a joint South African and Lesotho governing body.
Work will include grit blasting of the steel lining around the tunnel and reapplying anti-corrosion treatment to the lining. Other maintenance will also be done to protect the infrastructure for “20 to 30 years.”
“The six-month period required to carry out maintenance is therefore critical to avoid catastrophic events that could result from lack of maintenance,” the ministry added.
