Water minister says municipalities need better planning

The minister made these remarks during a meeting with Rand Water and Mayors of the various municipalities in the Gauteng province on Friday night.

The meeting was held to engage the municipalities on their water conservation and demand management plans, the current state of their water and sanitation infrastructure and plans to also resolve the current challenges.

This follows this week’s severe water problems in Gauteng that were exacerbated by the violent storms that swept across some parts of the province on Tuesday night.

 The powerlines of Rand Water's Zuikerbosch Purification System were affected by the thunderstorm, resulting in the loss of about 2 million litres of water per day.

Rand Water told the Minister that the water board had engaged, on a continuous basis, with the Metros on measures which can be implemented to reduce the high consumption rate.

"In response to what had been presented, the City of Joburg outlined what it plans to do to address amongst others, pressure, and reservoir management," says spokesperson for the Ministry, Kamogelo Mogotsi.

"The City of Tshwane stated that its non-revenue water statistics had improved over the years, as measures had been put in place to reduce such losses. The City of Ekurhuleni stated that it had turned its focus on correcting metering and billing, but also lamented about the repetitive vandalism of infrastructure.

"Both Ministries maintained that there were no concrete plans by the municipalities on how the persisting challenges would be resolved to bring stability to the system.

"There was also consensus that the municipalities required support and to that end, Minister Mchunu directed that Rand Water and the Department of Water and Sanitation, meet, within the coming week, with technical officials from all the municipalities to devise a plan which would then be presented to the two Ministries."

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