South Africa Economic Hub to Fasttrack Steps to End Water Crisis
(Bloomberg) -- South Africa’s commercial hub Johannesburg will take a series of steps to improve water supply and stop its taps from running dry, the country’s water minister said.
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The city will improve revenue collection to increase the funds available for maintenance and provide better incentives for water to be used efficiently, Pemmy Majodina told a briefing Monday in Johannesburg.
It will also upgrade pressure management and replace aging pipes and dysfunctional bulk and customer water meters “so that water flows can be measured accurately to determine the location of these losses” to fix them faster, she said.
The push, in a nation that recorded recent success in improving electricity supplies after years of power cuts, comes amid growing concern over the threat of water shortages in major cities.
Rand Water, the city’s bulk-water supplier, warned last month that water-storage facilities may soon be depleted if municipalities such as Johannesburg don’t fix leaks and conserve water.
“The demand supply relationship for treated water in Johannesburg is very tight, and the system is vulnerable,” Majodina said. The city “must reduce the leaks in its water distribution system and complete its current projects to construct more reservoirs and pumping stations.”
Johannesburg Water Management Ltd., which distributes water in the city, said it loses 48% of the volume supplied to it to leaks and theft. In one incident, residents across several districts were left without water for almost two weeks in March after a breakdown.
South Africa’s Constitutional Court, based in the central business district, has been unable to conduct in-court case hearings since Nov. 1 because of unreliable water supply in its building.
“Whilst the court has a water tank installed for ablution facilities, this back up water supply lasts for only one working day, and the City of Johannesburg is unable to refill it promptly on a daily basis to allow court operations to continue uninterrupted,” it said in a statement.
--With assistance from Rene Vollgraaff.
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