THE Democratic Alliance has submitted a petition to Parliament calling for both Rand Water and Ekurhuleni Metro Municipality to appear before the Portfolio Committee on Water and Sanitation.
Mike Waters MP, DA Lethabong Constituency Head and DA Deputy Chief Whip in Parliament, in a statement said the drought in Ekurhuleni has been compounded by poor management by Rand Water and the metro, which has resulted in water shortages in the municipality and many households’ taps running dry.
Also read:
• Water crisis: first Ekurhuleni reservoirs run dry
• Ekurhuleni implements water restrictions
To date, over 1 200 residents have signed the petition, which calls for the Portfolio Committee to interrogate Rand Water and Ekurhuleni Metro to give deadlines as to when Rand Water will install independent power supplies at all of its pump stations; Ekurhuleni Metro will implement the computerised telemetry system (so they can verify, at a push of a button, the levels of water at their reservoirs, instead of using the stick method; their action plan to repair water infrastructure as Ekurhuleni is losing 39.8% of all its water; and the reasons why the financial statements submitted to Gauteng Treasury showed that at the end of the 2014/15 financial year in June, Ekurhuleni Metro had only spent 48% of the R127 million budgeted for waste water management and had failed to spend 46% of the R333 million allocated to water services.
Residents who have not signed the petition can still do so by going to www.petitions24.com/water_crisis
