Water crisis: Mixed reaction to move not to only rely on Rand Water

The City of Joburg has approved a motion for the city to acquire its water from other sources instead of depending exclusively on Rand Water in a bid to avert the water crisis.

This means the city can get water from wells and underground rivers or springs to ease the pressure on Johannesburg Water.

Between R800 to R900 million spent monthly to secure water from Rand Water

ANC councillor Masindi Mmbengwa said the city was spending between R800 to R900 million monthly to secure water from Rand Water.

Approving this motion, Mmbengwa said, could add 35% to 45% of water to the system.

“We have a crisis of electricity and people came with alternative electricity in solar and wind power but we do not have an alternative for water.

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“This motion is empowering the city and Johannesburg Water to invest in alternative water, which we have in abundance,” he said.

“Joburg Water only relies on the imported water from Lesotho through the Rand Water buying process and Joburg Water does not have any alternative water sources apart from Rand Water and the Lesotho arrangements.

“In recent years, the City of Cape Town was in a water shedding and day zero crisis. The question is should day zero come in the City of Joburg what will we do? What will be our alternative water sources?”

Mmbengwa recommended that the city must have a team of experts to research the quantity of underground water and the cost of processing it and project how long it would last.

“The responsible department must submit the assessment report within 90 days. The research team must be in communication with the council through the relevant member mayoral committee,” said Mmbengwa.

“All the recommendations from the professional team should be implemented.”

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ActionSA does not support the motion

ActionSA caucus leader Nombuso Mthembu said the reason they did not support the motion was that there were already experts and researchers who had been doing what was proposed in the council for years.

“The government of local unity must just start implementing the research which has been done for years. There was no need to bring this motion to council and they must utilise these people.

“They must not bring issues to the council to give the impression that they care about what is happening and they are trying to mitigate the situation.”

She said they also felt that the water challenges in the city were man-made and someone was benefitting from the use of tankers which provided water.

“Those water tankers cost the city about R50 million a month, so this is man-made so that people can benefit,” she said.

ALSO READ: Joburg’s water crisis demands solutions, not excuses

DA abstaining from motion

Democratic Alliance caucus leader Belinda Echeozonjoku said they abstained from the motion because they believed the city already had the resources to do what they wanted the council to approve.

“We are saying they are in government. Why are they not implementing the research?

“Why does it need to come to council? They must just implement the systems that are already there,” Echeozonjoku said.