Conserve water or face dry taps, municipal authorities warn

Gauteng residents risk Day Zero as they use too much water in ongoing hot weather

As water restrictions tighten across Gauteng with municipalities starting to take heed of Rand Water’s warnings of a looming crisis, the City of Tshwane has made a U-turn on its earlier decision to close all municipal swimming pools, now saying the pools will operate under strict conditions. 

Tshwane COO Vuyo Zitumane sent an internal memo on Thursday to the acting group head of regional operations and co-ordination, Phuti Moloto. In the memo, which TimesLIVE has seen, Zitumane said while level-one water restrictions were in place, other water conservation campaigns were also under way.

She said the city had engaged with Rand Water and agreed they would bar the use of all municipal swimming pools and not allow any new pools to open.

Zitumane said the pools would remain closed until further notice and those wanting to make use of these facilities would have to wait until the water crisis had been managed.

However, City of Tshwane spokesperson Selby Bokaba told TimesLIVE on Sunday the decision to close swimming pools had been reviewed after considering other factors. 

Bokaba said the swimming pools would continue to operate, but under strict conditions. 

He said the city was reiterating its plea to all customers to radically reduce their water usage as the levels at some reservoirs and towers had dropped alarmingly.

While Rand Water was licensed to supply Tshwane with 662-million litres of water each day, the city was drawing 800-million litres a day — about 18% more than the licence allowed for, he said.

He added high consumption was continuously putting the city’s distribution network and Rand Water systems under severe pressure.

“This strain calls for communities across the city’s seven regions to use water sparingly, attend to their households’ leaks and report leaks that require the city’s attention. Residents are also urged to be vigilant against instances of vandalism to the city’s water infrastructure,” Bokaba said.

Some of the highest consuming reservoirs had been identified. These included the Mooikloof Ridge Pumping Station and the Carina Street, Mabopane and Atteridgeville reservoirs.

Bokaba reminded residents the water restrictions were being imposed in line with Tshwane water supply bylaws.

These dictate that there can be no watering or irrigation of gardens with a hosepipe or sprinkler system between 6am and 6pm; no using of hosepipes to clean driveways or patios; no washing of cars with a hosepipe and no topping up of pools or water features.

“Punitive measures will be imposed against transgressors,” Bokaba said.

Environmental organisation WaterCAN, dedicated to preserving natural resources, warned that the real challenge regarding water supply and usage lay at municipal level.

It pointed out this was detailed in the No Drop Report, which identified where the physical losses were happening — with a third being attributed to leaks, unenforced bylaws and illegal water connections.

The No Drop Report showed that Joburg, Ekurhuleni and Tshwane were “together losing about 33% of the water they have paid to treat to drinkable standard”.

“It is very concerning that 42 of the 87 reservoirs in the City of Johannesburg are leaking and the water entity only has a budget to fix 14km of the 12,000km network of water pipes a year. At this rate, the infrastructure woes that we are experiencing are not going to be going away any time soon,” WaterCAN warned.

TimesLIVE