MMC launches Crown Gardens water tower

MMC for Environment and Infrastructure Services Department Tania OldJohn officially launched a two-megalitre Crown Gardens water tower, which will be an addition to the already existing tower at a cost of over R52-million.

She said water security and supply are some of the greatest challenges faced today, yet the situation has never looked more unsafe.

“In the past couple of months, we experienced power supply disruptions, aged infrastructure challenges and below the normal flow of water from our bulk water supplier in some parts of the City, impacting negatively on our supply capability, thus forcing our residents to endure intermittent water supply interruptions for several days and some weeks,” said OldJohn.

The City of Johannesburg implemented water restrictions as a directive from the bulk supplier. These restrictions impact several issues, including growing pressures from agriculture, energy production, industries and hygiene.

“All of these are impacting our water resources and the City is always striving to ensure delivery of quality uninterrupted water services to minimise frustration and inconvenience to the residents of the City.

“However, these efforts will fall short unless we resolve the question of access to finance for water infrastructure. We need to propel the process of closing the gap of the current backlog of upgrading and constructing water infrastructure that will be able to meet the water demands of the growing population of the City,” she said.

She added that it is also imperative that the residents work alongside the City by keeping water conservation on top of mind as well as safeguarding the City’s infrastructure.

“The Crown Gardens complex previously consisted of a 22.4 mega-litre concrete reservoir as well as a 1.1 mega-litre concrete water tower, which was commissioned in the 1950s and for the past 50 years, this complex has been adequately feeding areas such as Southdale, Mondeor, Ormonde, Robertsham and surrounding areas.”

Johannesburg Water started the construction on an additional two-mega litre elevated tower in 2019 to assist with the demand of the growing population and the storage capacity of the existing tower became inadequate for the demand, which saw an increase in water shortages in the area due to demand exceeding supply.

“The project was planned to be completed in August 2020, but due to challenges such as work stoppages by the local community, excessive rainfall as well as the pandemic, the project was only completed in October,” OldJohn said.

During the construction process, eight SMMEs were appointed for the project. The appointment of the contractor was on conditions that 20% of the construction activities were subcontracted to the local community with particular emphasis on skills transfer.

“This resulted in opportunities of 31 local workers of which 28 went to the development of local female workers. This new tower will mean Johannesburg Water keeps its promise of delivering quality and constant services to the residents of the City of Johannesburg,” said OldJohn.