Gauteng will soon follow in the footsteps of Cape Town if municipalities in the province do not stop their senseless wasting of water, says Philip van Staden, FF Plus MPL for Gauteng, after a meeting of the Local Government Committee in the Gauteng Legislature earlier today.
Van Staden says that the Rand West Municipality, Merafong Municipality and Mogale City are the biggest culprits in the province, with water losses of 65%, 50% and 44% respectively. Furthermore, Johannesburg 44%, Emfuleni 32%, Ekurhuleni 30.1%, Midvaal 28%, Lesedi 22% and Tshwane 20% are also contributing to the province’s water losses. This brings the total percentage of water loss for Gauteng municipalities to 36%, while the national figure is 36.7%.
“The way that Gauteng municipalities manage water is a concern for the FF Plus and during this morning’s meeting, the party warned that if attention is not urgently paid to saving water and the upkeep of water infrastructure, then Gauteng will soon be in the same kind of trouble as Cape Town, just on a much larger scale.
“The causes for water losses in Gauteng are shocking and include, amongst others, the following:
– theft and vandalism of infrastructure
– non-payment
– issuing accounts incorrectly
– faulty water meters
– water leakages
– burst pipes
– leaking reservoirs
– theft of water, which includes illegal connections
– blocked sewage systems
– households wasting water
– poor maintenance and old infrastructure
– acid mine water.
“The abovementioned have resulted in millions of litres of water going to waste over the past year in Gauteng. Instead of conserving and saving water by addressing and preventing these problems, the MEC for Local Government clearly has not done much to remedy the situation.
“The FF Plus is of the opinion that there is no political will in Gauteng to address the urgent issue and that residents will have to start making their own plans for the future by sinking boreholes and collecting rainwater for household use.
“Gauteng finds itself on the edge of a cliff. This may be a lot worse than what Cape Town is currently experiencing. Millions of people live and work in Gauteng and every year nearly 250 000 more people come to the province.
“During this morning’s Committee meeting, it became apparent that the Department is only now starting to realise how serious the problem really is,” says Van Staden.
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