‘Don’t spin it’: Alarm raised as Joburg residents enter second week without water
Desperate residents of Joburg have entered a second agonising week without water supply, a problem which was triggered by a lightning strike at the Eikenhof pump station more than a week ago.
City Power, Joburg’s power utility, reported a week ago that a lightning strike had hit its transformer, which impacted the power supply to Rand Water's Eikenhof system. The Eikenhof supplies the vital liquid to areas including greater Soweto, Roodepoort, Hursthill, Crosby and Brixton in Joburg.
WaterCAN, a leading civil society organisation dedicated to ensuring access to clean and safe water, has expressed “alarm” that the authorities in Joburg are struggling to resolve the dire water supply situation.
In an interview with IOL, Dr Ferrial Adam, executive manager of WaterCAN said the City of Joburg must not “play politics” around the supply of water.
“The water tanks being provided are not the solution. We need to figure out because we do not know how much government is spending on a water tank per day, we would (love) to have that information.
“The mayor of Joburg always says he is available and anyone can call him, but try finding his number anywhere online and let me know. The City must not play politics around water. Some of the responses we have been getting are very technical. They should just speak openly with people,” she said.
“The City should not wait for a disaster to happen. Why not have ongoing engagement with people rather than when something happens, then they come and give us political spin. That is the problem, that is why people do not trust what is being said.”
Adam added that the City must not seek to normalise the provision of water through water tanks to Joburg residents.
“It must be the exception. That is the challenge. When it becomes the norm, and when companies start dominating the sector, that is a concern. We have one family from KwaZulu-Natal that has more water tanks than anywhere else in southern Africa. That doesn’t make sense,” she said.
WaterCAN will on Friday host a “crucial” civil society meeting on Friday to discuss the Joburg water crisis.
The meeting will provide a platform for concerned organisations to voice their grievances and demand accountability from water authorities, the organisation stated.
Last week, IOL reported that Johannesburg Water announced that there was some progress on systems that were affected by the City Power outage at Rand Water’s Eikenhof pump station.
This is after taps in most of the suburbs and township in Johannesburg were left dry, with no water running out of taps since about Sunday in some areas.
In a statement, the water utility said despite the marginal progress at the pump station, complete recovery was projected to take a week at most.
It said developments were seen in areas like Soweto, Brixton, Crosby and Hursthill, including some parts of Roodepoort.
In Soweto, the Chiawelo reservoir, Doornkop West, Power Park, Jabulani, Diepkloof, Orlando East and Meadowlands reservoirs, had reportedly improved, but poor pressure may still be expected in the supply zone.
Randburg and other parts of Roodepoort were reported to be critically low.
“Poor pressure to no water may still be expected in the supply zone. Recovery is slow due to high demand and reduced incoming flows as the system is still recovering,” the utility stated.
IOL