Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero has moved to assure the city’s residents that the current water challenges gripping the city are being dealt with. Morero was speaking during a media briefing at the Alexander Park Reservoir following violent protests across the city last week over the issue.
“We are on top of this problem. We are going to find solutions on the water issue in Johannesburg,” the mayor said.
Morero said the city will soon unveil its water infrastructure master plan, which will include refurbishments and pipe replacements, enabling the city to deal with water leaks.
“We have also agreed with the Minister of Water (Pemmy Majodina) that Johannesburg will have a programme on dealing with leaks and get support with provincial government. In that way, we will reduce our water losses quite significantly as we deal with pipe replacements,” he added.
Furthermore, the city will be “very hard” on illegal water connections, which Morero said are contributing to the current water challenges.
“Illegal connections have been a big problem in the City of Johannesburg. We try from time to time to cut off illegal connections and… to a large extent, the cut-offs do help us in maintaining the water supply.
“What we have agreed on… with Johannesburg Water, we are going to have a meeting with the Johannesburg Police Department with an intention to get them to be consistent in the programme of cut-offs.
"This will help us a lot in terms of (managing) water demand, and it will also help us in terms of our bulk purchases. So, there’s a lot that it can help in reducing the current problems that we have with water,” he said.
On immediate interventions, the city has acquired 20 tankers, which will be deployed to communities when needed.
In Coronationville, where water shortages ignited protests last week, the area is being supplied.
“They do have water. What we are doing is a balancing act. At night we close water and during the morning we open it. It’s an issue of demand.
“We have to make a call to our communities to try as much as possible to preserve water…to use it sparingly. So that those areas that are battling to get those levels high, we can be able to provide and increase the levels in their water reservoirs,” Morero said.
