Forum to solve Gauteng Water Crisis

The Gauteng Water and Sanitation Forum is expected to launch a water saving campaign on 19 November.

The community based door-to-door campaign is driven by councillors, government officials and Community Development Workers (CDW), and is meant to prioritise water preservation in all municipalities in Gauteng.

This campaign was announced by the MEC for Cooperative Governance, Traditional Affairs and Human Settlements Jacob Mamabolo on 16 November at a special sitting of the Gauteng City Region GPG Water and Sanitation Forum.

The Forum was opened by Water and Sanitation Minister Nomvula Mokonyane who emphasised the need to deal with water and sanitation issues in a more robust manner, given the current water scarcity being experienced in the province and in the country.

Mokonyane explained that South Africa was among the 30 driest countries in the world and this required residents to change water consumption patterns.

“We are facing serious water shortages and demand. I’m again making a plea to all South Africans to have a hand in saving our water resources,” Mokonyane told the forum.

The forum has adopted a 6-pillar mass communication campaign to educate the community about saving water and changing daily habits to make sure that water is preserved.

The forum’s chairperson MEC Mamabolo explained that they would also engage with various sectors which consume large sums of water such as agriculture and construction, as part of a holistic campaign to save water in the province.

“We will also have water champions at the senior levels of council in all our municipalities in order to aggressively drive the message of water preservation”, MEC Mamabolo said.

Chairperson of Rand Water Board Advocate Matshidiso Hashatse explained the main river system supplying water to Gauteng, the Vaal River system, was currently standing at 58.9 per cent and ideally they would like to have the capacity standing between 60 – 80 per cent.

The six pillars of the mass communication campaign are:

• Intensify Water Leaks campaign
• Water harvesting during times of rain
• Improve supply side and production through capacity upgrades
• Uninterrupted water supply to all essential services facilities including hospitals
• Eskom to ensure no power cuts or load shedding to Rand Water facilities responsible for pumping water
• Educating communities on efficient water use and preservation

Details: Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs 011 355 4000.

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