Singh says when it comes to water, the city has lost control
Rather than blaming certain areas for high consumption, he asks why the city is not doing some basic checks to see what has suddenly changed in any place to increase water usage.
Ravin Singh sits on the Water Crisis Committee (WCC) formed last year in response to widespread and long-lasting water outages across the city. The Northcliff Melville Times has been following their work since their first protest at Council when it sat in Brixton last year.
Following recent water challenges when lightning struck the Eikenhof pump station twice in as many weeks, Singh reflects on what they hope to achieve.
“I don’t want to get into a theoretical definition of whether we are in a crisis or not. It is our lived experience of being without water or inconsistent water in houses, old age homes, schools and more. It is a crisis for the people when that happens.”
When asked what he hopes the WCC will achieve, there was no hesitation.
“We need to focus on what needs to be done to fix the water network. I am not one to name and shame or moralise, but we need solutions. The WCC wants to work with the city to find a resolution – we are an ally, not a foe.”
He acknowledges that we are a water-scarce country, province and city but says that is not enough of a reason for the current shortcomings.
“Rand Water is supplying the water, I agree, but disagree when it comes to consumption.”
Areas were highlighted last week by Johannesburg Water as being heavy users of the precious liquid.
- I want to know who in those areas are heavy consumers of water.
- What has changed in those spaces in recent times for them to be flagged as problematic?
- Has there been a change in policy in terms of how much will be supplied to communities?
- Has there been a spike in the building of new high-density accommodation and has this been adequately planned for?
- What is the city doing in terms of identifying problem areas before they overwhelm the system?
- These questions and more need to be answered. If say 1 000 houses or plots were surveyed in this way and no obvious reason for increased usage was found, then engineers could look for underground faults, for example. The city has this data available to them so they should be using it pragmatically and practically.”
When it comes to blaming consumers, he also says messaging by water authorities on social media is not going to have the desired effect.
“We need to be talking to people on the ground and face to face. Let’s mobilise residents associations, civil society and others to get the messaging out in a language and environment that people will respond to. An X tweet or WhatsApp message just won’t work.
“All of these role-players won’t be doing this work for payment – it will be people willingly volunteering to help ensure water supply is stable and available. In our small community group, we cover seven streets. We can easily walk those streets or hold a small community meeting to discuss what needs to be done – this is a practical example of what might be.
“In the early 2000s when Eskom had massive problems, this is exactly how we got people to reduce consumption and use less electricity. It united us a lot over a common cause.
“Lastly, the mayor recently said the WCC was working for money or being paid – that is absurd.
“All we want to do is to help.”
Related article: Electricity restored at Eikenhof pump station after lightning strike damage
