Water restrictions have been implemented because the purification capacity cannot meet the demand.
From Thursday, February 26 water restrictions are being instituted in Emalahleni Local Municipality. However, Kriel, Thubilishle, Rietspruit and farm areas with independent water supply need not worry, as they are excluded because they have separate purification plants.
Residents are prohibited from watering gardens with sprinklers or irrigation systems. You may use a bucket or handheld garden hoses to water your garden.
You are not allowed to wash your car with a hosepipe or fill up your swimming pool without prior written permission.
“Should these arrangements not be successful or lead to sufficient reduction in demand, it may be altered at any point in time,” said Mr Theo van Vuuren, municipal administrator.
“Residents and businesses are requested to adhere to these restrictions due to the critical water shortage at present. Residents and businesses failing to comply or adhere to this notice will receive a fine in terms of the National Water Act, 36 of 1998 plus all other costs as determined by the engineer of council or you shall be taken to court for this offence or non-compliance,” Van Vuuren warned.
To keep a close eye on the strict water restrictions, the municipality will deploy its municipal law enforcement officers to monitor the compliance very closely.
At this point the water and sanitation system is overburdened and aged. Water purification capacity is stretched and at least 20% below where it should be. Similarly the waste water treatment works are all aged and the pump stations and bulk pipelines not able to cope with volumes.
R2-billion is needed to fully upgrade the current water and sanitation network and bulk treatment and storage capacity and a further R2-billion for bulk services is required to allow for the formalisation of the vast informal areas especially in the western areas.
The capital budget of the municipality is limited but has been augmented by additional funding support by the provincial government and currently in respect of water the focus is on rehabilitating and replacing aging infrastructure and pipe lines. The purification works have already been rehabilitated and all reservoirs cleaned. Rand Water is assisting the municipality in the management and implementation of this programme. In addition, significant investments are being made to revamp all the waste water treatment plants and work in that respect is at an advanced stage. Part of this programme is to attend to the bulk connector lines and pump stations but funding for this was limited and it will still take years to complete at the current rate.
“The water situation remains bad and for the first time since we managed in 2013 to stabilise the system, it is very evident that we simply cannot meet the current demand,” said Van Vuuren.
He explained four factors are contributing to this problem.
“A high loss of water backwashed during the intensified purification process necessitated by the abnormal high manganese content of our raw water. We currently lose between 15 and 18 mega-litres a day in this fashion. Although some progress has been made by the team to improve the water quality, it is not effective enough, neither very efficient,” Van Vuuren said.
He said the unreliable pumping by the mine of their contracted 15 mega-litres affects negatively on Point B reservoir.
Also load shedding has a huge impact on the situation.
“The delayed impact of load shedding and electrical interruptions which each time has thrown the system out of balance and resulted that the most remote points in the water network often ran dry. We are securing back-up generators and with ring feed at all points we could to minimise the impact,” he said.
More significant are the high temperatures and low rainfall experienced this season. As a result, the demand for water has increased significantly on a year to year basis from previous years.
“The nett effect of the above is that we do not currently have the capacity to fill our reservoirs to the desired levels,” Van Vuuren slammed the harsh reality on the table.
“We especially struggle with Point B and Point B-C. We need at least 30% water in Point B to allow Tasbet 12 and Duvha to receive water at pressure, whilst B-C impacts on Ogies, Phola and Clewer. In addition we do not have capacity to pump to Point E and therefore Empumulweni and parts of KwaGuqa and Hlalanikahle only receive water late at night if at all. Point A impacts on Pine Ridge and the Correctional Services, which has for the past week not receive sufficient water.
“The solution to the above is to provide firstly emergency water via tankers to areas out. We have deployed an additional 10 tankers today to assist. Secondly we need to conserve water so that everybody can have water for at least their household needs. The intension of this is not to be punitive but to reduce excessive water utilisation to enable us to serve the areas which are now chronically out,” he said.
The duration and intensity of the water restrictions will depend on the success of reducing demand and increasing supply.
Van Vuuren said thirdly the package plant should within six weeks be able to deliver the municipality with an additional 20 mega-litres per day which at that point will provide capacity to serve the areas without water.
Van Vuuren is taking one step further, appealing to independent water system and quality engineers and biochemists who can provide expert assistance to the team over the next month.
“If you know of somebody who will be immediately available for a period of plus minus a month, please email me at tjvvuuren01@gmail.com with an abbreviated CV and hourly tariff scale. For more information you can contact Ben Botes at bhbotes@gmail.com.”
