Higher water bills for Tshwane residents loom should high water consumption persist, warns the Tshwane metro.
As water utility Rand Water struggles with water consumption and depletion of water storage, it prompts local government to ensure sustainable use of water to avert a potential collapse of the water system.
The metro said Tshwane residents will have to dig deeper in their pockets should the high water consumption not decrease.
The metro finds itself on the cusp of an impending water crisis, having breached the terms of its water licence agreement with Rand Water and now is exceeding its water limit by an alarming 18%.
While the city scrambles to address the urgent need to preserve its diminishing water resources, residents are facing the prospect of tougher water restrictions or a potential dry taps-induced catastrophe.
Metro spokesperson Selby Bokaba said despite repeated calls to reduce consumption, that Tshwane residents and businesses continue to use water at an alarming rate.
Rand Water set the city a 666 million litres per day limit, but it consumes about 800 million litres.
This unsustainable water usage is placing the city’s bulk water system under severe strain with the possibility of the system running dry and eventually collapsing.
Bokaba said the metro would look to enforce higher restrictions such as level 2 and 3 restrictions, which entails that residents will now have to dig deeper in their pockets as water will cost more.
He said a 43kl to 60kl per 30 days consumption, which used to cost R48.28 under Level 1 restrictions per kilolitre, will now cost R225.86 under Level 3 restrictions per kilolitre.
Bokaba added that officials were currently engaging the Tshwane Metro Police Department (TMPD) on by-law and restriction enforcement.
The city has called on residents and businesses to use water sparingly.
Rand Water said the water storage levels throughout Gauteng have significantly declined because municipalities are drawing excessive volumes.
The utility warned that, should municipalities not reduce water consumption and deal with leakage loss and illegal connections, water reserves could soon be depleted.
Bokaba said the Rand Water system, which accounts for 79% of Tshwane’s water provision, is currently under severe pressure due to the city’s excessive demand.
“The water utility is pumping about 800 million litres per day to Tshwane, which is 18% more than the city’s licence agreement with the entity.”
Bokaba said customers are cautioned that if the current consumption practice does not change, the city will imminently adjust the water restrictions to level 2 or even higher, which will have financial implications for consumers.
He said numerous requests have been made to residents to use water sparingly, however, these have not yielded any positive results.
He said seasonal changes like hot weather, theft of water and illegal connections, ageing water infrastructure and population growth have resulted in high water demand and consumption in Tshwane.
According to Bokaba, the city has improved the response time to attend to water leaks.
“There is also a pipe replacement programme focusing on replacement of the aged water pipes. The city replaces about 14 000m of aged water pipes per annum. We’re also implementing the pressure management programme through the installation and refurbishment of the Pressure Reducing Valves (PRVs).”
Bokaba said for technical losses, the city has embarked on pipe replacement and pressure management programmes to address water wastage through leaks due to ageing water infrastructure and high system pressures.
“The metro is also implementing a water meter replacement programme focusing on replacing aged and faulty water meters. Installation of new water meters to unmetered connections is also part of the water replacement programme.”
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Rand Water spokesperson Makenosi Maroo said despite repeated warnings municipalities in Gauteng continue to use excessively.
She said this would lead to a water crisis in the province. “We have communicated through letters, meetings with many municipalities and water imbizo, unfortunately the crisis we sought to prevent has materialised.”
She said the water supply system in Gauteng including Rand Water’s reservoirs is critically low.
“We would like to alert municipalities in Gauteng that water storage could soon be depleted if municipalities do not implement our recommendations.”
Maroo emphasised that Rand Water is operating at full capacity and cannot pump additional water into the system.
“Due to limitations imposed by the Department of Water and Sanitation, Rand Water cannot extract more water from existing sources. The only viable solution is to address this issue through Water Conservation and Demand Management.”
She said Rand Water has advised municipalities to reduce physical water losses of 33% identified in the No Drop Report, repair leaks, enforce by-laws and address illegal connections.
Residents are thus reminded of these specific Level 1 water restrictions:
– No watering or irrigation of gardens with a hosepipe or sprinkler system between 06:00 and 18:00.
– Do not use a hosepipe to clean driveways or patios or wash vehicles.
– No filling or topping up of swimming pools or water features.
