Metro: Adhere to water restrictions or else…

Tshwane residents are continuing to defy water restrictions at an alarming rate, despite repeated calls from the metro and Rand Water to reduce consumption.

According to Tshwane metro spokesperson Lindela Mashigo, the current water consumption pattern for Tshwane is a growing concern as it has been showing an upward trend even though Level 1 restrictions are in place.

Mashigo warned that if the current consumption practice does not change, the metro will imminently adjust the water restriction to Level 2 or even higher, which will have financial implications for consumers.

“The implementation of various restriction levels is to avoid the depletion of the water supply,” said Mashigo.

“Officials were currently engaging the Tshwane Metro Police Department (TMPD) on by-law and restriction enforcement.”

The metro called on residents and businesses to use water sparingly.

This call to action was prompted by a significant decline in water storage levels across Gauteng, largely due to municipalities exceeding their allocated volumes.

Rand Water issued a stark warning, cautioning that failure to reduce consumption and address leaks and illegal connections could lead to a catastrophic depletion of water reserves.

Tshwane urged locals to adhere to Level 1 water restrictions by observing the following:

– Do not water or irrigate gardens with a hosepipe or sprinkler system between 06:00 and 18:00.

– Do not use a hosepipe to clean driveways or patios.

– Do not wash vehicles with a hosepipe.

– Do not fill or top up swimming pools or water features.

Mashigo said even though these restrictions are in place, the water levels in the reservoirs are still dropping.

Last week, Mashigo announced the closing of all municipal swimming pools due to Level 1 water restrictions.

The pools across Tshwane will only be operational once Rand Water lifts its water restrictions on Tshwane.

“A written instruction, dated October 24 was sent to all regions stopping all swimming pool activities (with immediate effect) at the municipal facilities until further notice.”

According to Mashigo, the metro has initiatives in place to educate locals about saving water and adhering to restrictions.

He said they are conducting educational and awareness campaigns through schools and community engagement to educate residents about the importance of water conservation and the need to adhere to the restrictions.

“We have also implemented a pipe replacement programme to address the problem of aged infrastructure and high pressure, which are the major causes of water leaks.

The impact of these efforts has been noticed in the reduction of non-revenue water by 0.4% from 34.4 to 34.0% in the first quarter of the 2024/25 financial year,” he said.

Mashigo stated that the metro is working closely with Rand Water to ensure a co-ordinated approach to managing water resources and enforcing restrictions.

“A Memorandum of Understanding has been entered into between the city and Rand Water to collaborate on water conservation and demand management.”

Tshwane spokesperson Selby Bokaba told Rekord that the metro is drawing 18% more water from Rand Water than it is licensed to, and still the reservoir levels are drastically dropping because residents are disregarding calls to use water sparingly.

Bokaba said the situation is becoming intolerable.

He added that the metro was reiterating its plea to all customers to radically reduce their water usage as the levels at some reservoirs had dropped alarmingly.

Tshwane water licence permits it to draw 662 million litres a day from Rand Water but is in fact drawing 800 million – about 18% more than is allowed.

The metro has so far identified some of the highest-consuming reservoirs and one pump station.

Bokaba said consumers who are supplied by these reservoirs and the pump station are the main contributors to the overall high water usage within Tshwane.

Mooikloof Ridge Pumping Station, which is directly supplied by the Rand Water system, is currently experiencing an extremely high demand, which has left the high-lying areas with low pressure.

“Other reservoirs that are under strain include Mabopane, Atteridgeville, Hammanskraal, Soshanguve, Mooikloof, Akasia, Constantia and Lotus.”

The metro also announced on its Facebook page that the Rand Water Hartebeeshoek reservoir, which supplies the Soshanguve L system, is low.

According to the post, this has a direct impact on Soshanguve L, which is our most sensitive zone.

Makenosi Maroo spokesperson for Rand Water told Rekord that there is no need for Rand Water to draw water from the Sterkfontein Dam as the Vaal River System has enough.

“Currently, the Vaal Dam has sufficient water resources to sustain normal supply to Rand Water municipal customers,” said Maroo.

Meanwhile, the Vaal Dam’s water level has plummeted by 15.5 percentage points over just 11 weeks.

The dam was at 30.8% of its full storage capacity of 2.5 billion cubic metres two weeks back.

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