JOHANNESBURG – The DA will request the Minister of Water and Sanitation, Nomvula Mokonyane, to urgently investigate the major interruptions in water supply by Rand Water in Gauteng.
“We will also request the Acting Director General of the Department, Trevor Balzar, to brief the Portfolio Committee on Water and Sanitation on the Department’s plans to mitigate future interruptions.
“The affected areas of Ekurhuleni, Johannesburg South and Cullinan had major interruptions for almost two weeks and in some places the water was completely shut down for eight consecutive days,” said Leon Basson MP DA Shadow Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation
Rand Water has explained that the water interruptions are related to power outages. But it is the responsibility of Rand Water to ensure contingency plans are in place to deal with power outages. Given that rolling blackouts have been on the cards for some time, one would expect that Rand Water has prepared generator capacity to ensure that the risk of a simultaneous cut in water and electricity supply is mitigated.
This unfortunate situation has exposed a number of problems at Rand Water:
- Lack of maintenance – numerous instances of pump failure, pipe failure, and problems with reservoir facilities have been reported;
- Lack of contingency plans – Rand Water ought to have backup arrangements in respect of power outages, which have now become common and will remain so over the next few years; and
- Shortage of engineering know-how – the problems of the past eight days should have been foreseen and mitigated by competent engineering management of the problem.
