Tshwane to introduce water flow restrictors to punish ‘notorious’ consumers

Tshwane mayor Solly Msimanga has announced intensified plans by the city to reduce water use‚ including the installation of 3 000 water restrictors to keep “notorious” users in check.

Msimanga came down hard on these heavy water consumers‚ saying recent rains have not yet dented the impact of the country's three-year drought.

He was speaking at a briefing on Tuesday morning at Pretoria's Rietvlei Dam Nature Reserve - one of the city's key water sources.

Msimanga congratulated Tshwane residents on surpassing the required water saving of 15%. The city is now saving 15.8% of its water‚ he said.

Despite this saving‚ the city is still issuing fines and installing water restrictors to curb reckless water consumers.

Msimanga said 40 people have been fined‚ mainly in affluent Pretoria East suburbs.

He also said that the city will install 3 000 water flow restrictors to throttle households and neighborhoods with a high water demand.

The Department of Water and Sanitation's Stephens Notoane identified some of these areas as Waverley‚ Atterigdeville‚ Shoshanguve‚ Lotus Gardens‚ Garsfontein and other eastern Pretoria suburbs.

The 40 issued fines have mainly come from Pretoria East too‚ Msimanga said‚ as well as Laudium and Centurion.

“[In these areas] people [are] continuously filling their swimming pools‚ people [are] continuously watering their gardens during the course of the day‚ one golf course that during the course of the day just continuously waters the whole golf course. Those are the people we have identified that we have given notices to.”

A notice was also issued to a contractor for damaging water pipes and failing to report the damages‚ leading to the loss of water‚ Msimanga said.

He added that “anyone digging in our city will now have to pay a R200 000 holding deposit” as the Tshwane cannot afford to keep paying for damage caused by contractors.

Tshwane has 165 reservoirs providing 950-million litres of water to the city daily. Ninety percent of these reservoirs are more than 70% full but three are below 50%.

Msimanga urged Tshwane residents to continue in their efforts to harvest as much water as they can and use grey water where possible.

– TMG Digital