Increased usage worsens Gauteng's water crisis
JOHANNESBURG - Gauteng's water demand continues to outstrip supply.
Apart from poorly maintained infrastructure, dry taps are also being blamed on increased demand.
READ: SA's water crisis | Joburg residents claim there's a lack of water tankers
Deputy Water and Sanitation Minister, David Mahlobo spoke with eNCA about what is being done to address these challenges.
Mahlobo said, "We must be in a position to indicate that the water system in many parts of our country, in Gauteng, in particular Johannesburg, that system remains very vulnerable."
"At any point, there are many disturbances that are happening. Some of these disturbances are objective and some of them are very subjective."
"I'm very pleased that the Premier of Gauteng Panyaza Lesufi, Minister [of Water and Sanitation] Pemmy Majodina, the [Gauteng finance and economic development] MEC [Lebogang Maile] and ourselves have been trying to attend to the current problem where number of areas in Johannesburg, they don't have water."
"In the main, there were two reasons: there was an issue of an outage for the power that took a little bit longer that affect the Rand Water system that is supplied by Emfuleni Local Municipality," the deputy minister said, adding that the electricity minister will be involved in the management of this challenge.
The second reason was due to water loss in the province of Gauteng, which the deputy minister said would take some time to resolve.
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Rand Water warns of ‘extremely’ high water demand, reservoirs depleting rapidlyhttps://t.co/uevHl38Ffd#RWWaterDemandManagement #RWWaterSupply #RWReduceConsumption#RWWaterSustainability #RWWaterConservation
[NS]— Rand Water (@Rand_Water) February 13, 2025