A Joburg Water statement circulated on Friday with the headline, “System faces risk of collapse as Rand Water’s Eikenhof under strain”. It’s not a statement that made prominent headlines; it was shared in community WhatsApp groups and briefly reported on by some news outlets. An imminent water system collapse should have caused much more alarm than it did. Perhaps by now many South Africans have become accustomed to expecting the worst from service providers. But we need to speak up now, not hold our peace forever.
The statement went on to explain that water consumption was on the increase, “which will result in little to no water supply to customers”. It does not explain why water consumption was on the increase (it’s not peak summer yet?) and it also does not explain why an increase in consumption was not planned for. Instead, it lists all the areas that will be affected, including Orange Farm, Soweto, Randburg and Roodepoort, and goes on to warn those living in Sandton, Midrand and South Hills to also use water sparingly. This is widespread — with wide-ranging consequences. It is astounding to see the entity placing the responsibility of water availability straight on residents’ shoulders, noting it even warned water users before, “if consumption is not reduced, extreme measures would have to be instituted”. It’s as if Joburg Water is talking to a child who had not listened the first time he or she was scolded, instead of a tariff-paying customer who expects clean, available, running water as part of his or her services.
We are licensed to extract 4,800 megalitres of water from our feeders and at the moment we are exceeding the limit and the reservoirs are drying out.
— Makenosi Maroo, Rand Water spokesperson
On Monday, another announcement, this time with a bit more detail. “We are licensed to extract 4,800 megalitres of water from our feeders, and at the moment we are exceeding the limit and the reservoirs are drying out,” Rand Water spokesperson Makenosi Maroo told TimesLIVE.
Rand Water’s primary and secondary stations were operating at maximum capacity and were unable to maintain their reservoirs at high water levels because of high consumption. Then followed tips on how to save water. This may be a short-term solution, but we need long-term thinking here — and fast. Gauteng’s population is projected to grow to 18 million by 2030 and between 22 million and 25 million by 2050, according to a Gauteng provincial report released in 2020.
It showed Gauteng to, by far, outnumber other provinces in terms of semi-migration. Between 2006 and 2011, Gauteng netted just more than 900,000 newcomers; between 2011 and 2016, another 980,000. That number shot up to more than one million in the following period.
Gauteng — and Johannesburg specifically — is bursting at the seams. More than six-million people live in Johannesburg alone. These are the numbers our city planners and water and electricity authorities need to consider. It is no use saying Rand Water is licensed to extract only a certain amount of water from its feeders, when the city’s growing population is not taken into account when these regulations are approved. Our service providers need to start planning ahead so that stage 6 water-shedding does not become the new load-shedding in a few years’ time. It’s fair to warn customers to use water sparingly, but our provincial government needs to heed our warning too: start planning ahead properly or dry taps will become an unwelcome and undeserved norm.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.