By Akani Nkuna
Deputy President Paul Mashatile told Parliament on Thursday that the government was implementing measures to address the water crisis in Gauteng municipalities, including the enforcement of Level 2 and Level 3 water restrictions.
Level 1 water restrictions are currently being implemented in the City of Johannesburg to avert Day Zero.
Mashatile, who is the Chairperson of the Water Task Team, was answering questions in the National Assembly.
The Water Task Team was established by President Cyril Ramaphosa in March this year under the leadership of Mashatile to address water challenges in various areas in the country.
DA Member of Parliament Stephen Moore asked Mashatile: “What steps has the Water Task Team taken to ensure municipalities are in a position to immediately implement the recommendations made by Rand Water, particularly that the water storage in Gauteng will soon be depleted if municipalities do not implement the recommendations?”
Mashatile responded by saying that there were several measures currently being implemented to ensure that “we do not reach a stage where adequate supply of water becomes a crisis in Gauteng”.
The deputy president said the Water Task Team was also monitoring the implementation of measures to ensure that municipalities are able to immediately implement the recommendations made by Rand Water – the largest bulk water utility in Africa and one of the largest in the world – to avert water depletion.
The reasons for the water supply disruptions in the Gauteng have been identified as the high levels of leaks in municipal water distribution systems and high average consumption levels by residents.
He said Department of Water and Sanitation was also working together with the Gauteng government to encourage municipalities to put in place Level 2 and Level 3 water-use restrictions and to enforce them.
“The Department of Water and Sanitation is also engaging with the municipalities to encourage them to address the leaks in their water distribution systems and address illegal connections,” said Mashatile.
On addressing wide-spread contamination of water sources by sewage in municipalities, Mashatile responded by saying that government has received reports on severe water and sanitation infrastructure challenges faced by Free State municipalities.
“In the main, the lack of maintenance and upgrading of existing infrastructure is the cause of wide-spread contamination of water sources by sewer spillages into the Vaal River. To this end, the Department of Water and Sanitation has opened criminal charges against 53 municipalities for various acts of pollution and environmental damage,” said Mashatile.
“These charges are at various stages of investigation by the law enforcement agencies. The Free State Provincial CoGTA Department has allocated R5 million towards the construction of emergency sewer ponds at Frankfort to ease the plant not to pollute the Vaal River during power failures.”
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