Water concerns in city
While water restrictions in Pretoria remain in place, Tshwane mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa said problems from the Vaal River system were a major obstacle to the supply of water to all.
Stephané Bothma
Problems in the Vaal River system that supplies Tshwane remain a major obstacle to service delivery for the capital city.
But, said Tshwane mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa, the matter was receiving the highest priority to ensure residents continued to receive water.
In his state of the capital address (Soca) on Thursday, Ramokgopa said the city was not only making great strides in providing new water infrastructure, but also in upgrading and maintaining existing infrastructure.
“Major water and sanitation programmes over the current term included bulk water services, water purification plants, reservoirs and bulk pipelines in addition to waste water treatment work developments,” he said.
Water restrictions implemented last year, however remained in place, the metro earlier said, adding that should the restrictions be lifted, residents would be immediately informed.
Ramokgopa said during the current term of office the metro had set a target of installing 327 297 metres of new bulk network of water pipes. In addition, 254 830 metres was upgraded or replaced.
“To date, the city has achieved 98,5% of the installation of new pipelines and 100% of [replacing] old pipelines,” according to the mayor.
However, he added, water loss within Tshwane severely undermined the gains made across a number of areas.
“The latest calculated non-revenue water percentage, as at March 2016, stands at 25,4% which is primarily due to ageing infrastructure and its astronomically high replacement cost.
“The physical water loss component contributes to about 80% of the non-revenue water,” Ramokgopa said.
Initiatives to reduce the scourge of water waste included pipe and valve replacements, pressure management, the installation of smart controllers, the repair of leaks on private properties, industrial and commercial water meter audits, an audit of Tshwane’s top 600 consumers’ water meters and measures to curb water theft and illegal water connections.
“We will soon be launching another app that is GPS-enabled to assist citizens in reporting water leakages and faults, thereby removing the cost of time required report this to our call centre,” the mayor said.
Meanwhile, a study by civil rights organisation AfriForum into drinking water in 11 areas in Tshwane indicated that only two – Pretoria West and Rayton, had contaminated water. However, immediately after informing the metro that the water in Pretoria West contained phenol and chromium and that in Rayton faecal coliforms and E.coli, the metro had cleaned it.
Tests in the Apies River, Centurion, Cullinan, the east of Pretoria, Wonderboompoort, Zambezi and in the University of Pretoria areas, indicated that drinking water was clean.
But, the AfriForum water test showed, the waste water treatment in the areas of the Apies River, Centurion, Meyerspark, the east of Pretoria, Pretoria West and Zambezi contained contaminants.
“AfriForum is currently in the process of writing a letter to the Tshwane metro to inform them about the quality of its wastewater,” AfriForum head of local government Marcus Pawson said.
Also read:
Tshwane impose water restrictions
Metro accused of wasting water
Funding for storm water canal dries up
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