Water experts have questioned the City of Johannesburg's water security plan arguing that it does not provide anything new and fails to take into consideration the real water situation of the economic hub.
Last week, Johannesburg mayor Kabelo Gwamanda launched the water security plan which the city wants to use in future to ensure reliable supply to its residents.
Among the plans the city revealed is to properly manage water source licences, diversify its sources by including groundwater, reduce demand, create awareness about the scarcity of water and reduce water distribution losses.
Water expert Dr Anthony Turton said the document didn't say anything out of the ordinary.
“It is the same old stuff. In fact the impression that one gets is that it was written by a consulting company ... The document is full of international best practices and the softer issues like stakeholder engagement,” Turton said.
He said the document looks at best international practice while not considering the unique location of the City of Johannesburg in relation to water sources.
“Johannesburg has relatively low rainfall — 600mm to 800mm a year. It is not a high rainfall area to the best of my knowledge. But the open-plan evaporation is in the order of 1800mm. In other words we lose at least three times more than the (rain) fall from the sky.
That is the key defining feature of Johannesburg and nowhere in the document is it mentioned.
“The other feature of Johannesburg is that the geology of the area is generally not conducive to groundwater. When they talk about developing groundwater, that is not a realistic option because the geology of the area is that it is a mining area. The only part of Johannesburg that has realistic groundwater is far west, which falls under Carletonville and Randfontein. But that groundwater is now polluted with uranium from the mine dumps,” Turton said.
The issue of reliable water supply in the City of Johannesburg came to the fore last month when there was power disruption followed by lightning that hit the Eikenhof pump stations leaving thousands of residents without water for weeks.
The city provided water tankers and held press briefings to try to manage the situation which angered many residents.
After supply had been fully restored, Gwamanda launched the water security plan which will guide the city’s efforts in ensuring reliable water supply for all its citizens.
Among other issues contained in the document is for the city to look into rainwater harvesting and the reuse of treated effluent. The city also wants to investigate mechanisms and incentives to be be introduced for water conservation.
It further recommends that the city should have enhanced data analysis to better identify infrastructure problems, improve leak detection and ensure that reported leaks are prioritised.
Water expert Prof Mike Muller said the document is written by a City of Johannesburg department that has limited capabilities and no clear responsibility for the management of water supply and sanitation services which is undertaken by Johannesburg Water, an autonomous entity with its own board and strategy.
“Many of the functions it addresses cannot be managed at city level. The authors do not seem to understand how water supply and sanitation services are actually managed, which is perhaps because it appears to have been guided by a team of external environmental experts who have limited experience of the field.
“It correctly states that ‘Johannesburg’s urban water system is managed fragmentally on different levels by different departments or entities’.
“What it misses is that the dispersion of accountabilities means that the city does not have the capacity to understand its water challenges. So while it is a very pretty report and would meet with the approval of international environment agencies, it offers very little help to Joburgers who want to know what needs to be done to ensure a safe and reliable supply of water and effective and safe disposal of wastewater,” Muller said.
He said the conclusion that can be drawn from the document is that there needs to be a thorough reorganisation of the way in which water and sanitation services are organised in the city.
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