Water crisis intensifies due to Rand Water's lack of maintenance of infrastructure

27 February 2023

Gauteng residents have been left with no water due to Rand Water's lack of adequate and regular maintenance of its water infrastructure. There has been a breakdown at the Vereeniging purification plant and a burst at the Palmiet pumping station, it is alleged that it was tampered with, which has impacted municipalities in rendering water to its residents.

Residents are urged to use water sparingly as the full recovery of the system could take up to 5 days. Please see image here.

Three metros have been severely impacted, namely, Johannesburg, Tshwane, and Ekurhuleni. The residents in those metros are now suffering a double blow of no water and electricity due to continuous load shedding and water crisis in the province.

Some of the affected areas have been with no water since Friday. This is severely affecting the residents' lives and digging deep into their pockets as some are forced to buy water while others have to travel to neighbouring suburbs to fetch water.

Water is life, and access to water is a basic right that our residents are currently being deprived of by this government. For far too long, the DA has been exposing Rand Water's incompetency, and we have been pleading with the current government to adopt our proposal to curb the water crisis in the province.

However, instead of responding positively to this crisis, they displayed arrogance and used it as a politicking tool to lash out at us at the expense of our residents that are suffering due to a lack of constant water supply.

We reiterate our demand for the establishment of an intergovernmental task team comprising all spheres of government to find permanent solutions to the ongoing water crisis in the province. We also propose the establishment of an infrastructure protection task team to combat the vandalism of our infrastructure.

The DA also demands that there should be a closer and continuous working relationship between law enforcement agencies and Rand Water to protect and safeguard our water infrastructure.

Furthermore, we urge all our municipalities to declare war on water leaks to preserve water and manage water loss. We also urge residents to use water sparklingly and not to exceed their daily limits, and adhere to water level restrictions so that they can continue to access an uninterrupted water supply.

Issued by Nico de Jager, DA Gauteng Spokesperson for Infrastructure Development, 27 February 2023