While many Gauteng residents were left high and dry over the last few weeks, nearly 2 000 kilolitres of water gushes from Rand Water’s three burst water supply pipelines every second in the Kromvlei area between Midvaal and Alberton.
Rand Water’s Zwartkopjes Pump Station is situated on a farm in Kromdraai.
An FF Plus delegation, headed by Amanda de Lange, Gauteng MPL, paid an oversight visit to the area and witnessed this wastage of precious water first-hand, and deems it criminal to waste water in this way.
The water is pumped from the Vaal Dam by the Emfuleni Local Municipality, from where it is distributed by pipeline to, among others, the Ekurhuleni and Johannesburg Metros, the Midvaal Local Municipality as well as other contiguous municipalities.
Rand Water has reportedly been aware of the burst water supply pipelines for three years and even dug a ditch across the farm to divert the water to the Klip River.
Moreover, it was noted that sewage from Rand Water’s housing complex is also dumped in the Klip River.
The burst underground pipeline has eroded the surface soil to such an extent that a dam has formed.
The area around the dam poses a significant danger to children and residents of a nearby squatter camp who obtain water from the dam for domestic use.
The quality of the water could also pose serious health risks because it is not monitored.
According to residents of the area, the stream of water is also used for washing clothes.
The FF Plus holds Rand Water directly accountable for this wastage of water as well as its possible share in the recent water crisis that originated in the western suburbs of Johannesburg and the Mogale City Local Municipality.
Apart from the problem at Rand Water’s Eikenhof Pump Station, the water network was further hampered by the massive water losses at the plant in the Kromdraai area, which is at the uppermost part of the water network.
The nearly eleven-day-long water shortage that plagued Mogale City followed hot on the heels of the announcement by the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) that Rand Water had to return R355 million to the National Treasury because the money had not been spent.
Under ANC rule, the water crisis will surpass the power crisis as national disaster.
The only solution is to oust the ANC in the upcoming elections, and replace it with a competent and accountable coalition government of which the FF Plus is part.