Taps run dry as Ekurhuleni’s Water Woes worsen
by Cllr Simon Lapping — DA Shadow MMC for Water, Energy and Sanitation in Ekurhuleni
Date: 01 September 2021
Release: Immediate
Type: Press Statement
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Ekurhuleni believes that Rand Water is throttling the water supply to numerous areas in the City of Ekurhuleni (CoE). The current water strangulation is the culmination of several factors that have occurred over the last couple of years.
Water is a basic essential that no human being can live without. The right of access to sufficient water is accorded to everyone in the South African Constitution, which states that everyone has the right to have access to sufficient water.
Rand Water has a responsibility of ensuring that there is a free flow supply of potable water from its sources to the cities of Gauteng. Eskom’s responsibility is to ensure that there is continual power provided to the pumps and reservoirs to ensure that water reaches all water users. The City of Ekurhuleni (CoE) must ensure that the supply grid is stable and form enough reservoirs in order to stockpile water.
Often Rand Water’s distribution network is under severe pressure with water demand consistently exceeding water supply, and the CoE is always quick to blame Rand Water for widespread water outages.
Evidently all three of the entities have failed the residents of Gauteng, particularly Ekurhuleni, and the continuous water shortages can attest to this. The areas worst affected are Germiston and Kempton Park, the industrial hub of South Africa.
There needs to be better planning from all three entities, especially considering the recent increased demand due to densification. The existing water systems are inadequate for the number of residents in the CoE. Why do the ANC and its coalition partners continue to approve rampant densification without adequate planning to ensure reliable water infrastructure to accommodate the growth?
Further aggravating the issue is that the water infrastructure is collapsing owing to the City’s ageing infrastructure. As the DA, we have been calling for urgent upgrades to the ailing water infrastructure in Ekurhuleni for years now. Yet, our pleas have fallen on deaf ears.
While the failing ANC and coalition partners governing the CoE, Rand Water, and Eskom get their houses in order, the DA is urging all water users to assist by using water sparingly and not waste this precious resource.
#Time4Change
*ANC Coalition Partners: African Independent Congress (AIC), Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), Patriotic Alliance (PA) and Independent Ratepayers Association of South Africa (IRASA)
Cllr. Simon Lapping
DA Shadow MMC for Water, Energy and Sanitation in Ekurhuleni
078 350 5063
