HERAUT spoke to William Matloho from Nigel Municipality’s water and sanitation department on November 11.

He reminded residents that although there is no immediate concern over a water crisis, that water should be used sparingly.

“The situation is fairly under control with local reservoir levels still at around 60%. The reservoir that supplies Nigel is situated in Selcourt, which is a Rand Water reservoir. It is checked twice daily and the results are sent through to head office.”

The reservoir in Visagie Park supplies Alrapark and Duduza has its owns. Unfortunately EMM does not have the telemetric system installed in its reservoirs, which means the levels are measured manually,” William said.

For now, some precautionary rules should be applied by local residents:

* fix all water leaks in and around your home;

* refrain from watering your garden or washing your car between 06:00 and 18:00 daily;

* do no let the water running while brushing your teeth;

* do not fill your swimming every day

Should the local reservoirs run dry, EMM has indicated that water tankers will be place at strategic points in the affected areas.

The DA in Gauteng however, disagrees, saying the governing party has taken the recent drought conditions and warning signs too lightly as residents in Ekurhuleni now begin to pay the price.

At a recent Water Forum Meeting, EMM was told it would have to reduce its consumption, because Rand Water would not be able to supply it efficiently if they did not. “Once again, this warning was not taken seriously and no restrictions were imposed,” the DA said.

In a press release on November 11, the DA has been extremely critical of the low performance and lack of spending by the department of Water and Sanitation.

“The underspending of over R166 million on the repairs and maintenance budget has been an issue of great concern, as this money could have gone a long way towards alleviating the massive 36% unaccounted-for water loss in the Metro.”

While drought conditions are undoubtedly placing constraints on our already scarce water supply, the dismal planning of a badly run organisation at the helm of the EMM is leading this Metro towards disaster.