Rand Water and the City of Tshwane have resolved to strengthen coordination to ensure consistent water supply within the city.
This follows a meeting between the Water and Sanitation Ministry, City of Tshwane, and Rand Water, who met on Sunday, to find a common solution to the current water challenges affecting the city.
Water and Sanitation Minister, Senzo Mchunu, together with Deputy Ministers, David Mahlobo and Judith Tshabalala, convened an urgent meeting with Rand Water and City of Tshwane to intervene on the public exchange between the water utility and the city.
According to the department, Mchunu directed Mahlobo, City of Tshwane Executive Mayor, Cilliers Brink, and Rand Water Board Chairperson, Ramateu Monyokolo to assemble a technical team. The team is led by the Department of Water and Sanitation Provincial Head, Justice Maluleke, the water utility’s Chief Executive, Sipho Mosai, and the city’s Group Head for Water and Sanitation, Stephens Notoane, to converge and derive a concrete plan to address the current water challenges.
“Subsequently, Mahlobo, Brink [and] Monyokolo, met with the task team later in the afternoon to receive feedback on the action plan to be implemented in order to resolve the issues that led to an impasse between the city and the water utility and ensure consistent supply of water to residents,” the Department of Water and Sanitation said in a statement on Monday.
Rand Water and the city, have apologised to the residents for the water supply uncertainty and assures residents that the two institutions are committed to working collaboratively to ensure these challenges affecting the city are resolved.
The city also confirmed that water has now been restored in areas which were affected by shortages in recent days, including Mooikloof, Waterkloof Ridge, Akasia and Mabopane.
As part of the resolutions of the meeting, the department said, a technical team, including DWS, Rand Water and the City of Tshwane will meet regularly during the peak season, to engage and provide holistic coordination, provision and management of water supply systems between Rand Water and the city.
The task team will on a daily basis, share the state of water supply systems; immediately deal with water supply challenges in the city; collaborate on water conservation campaigns and mobilise communities to save water, including imposing water restrictions where necessary; and strengthen communication with all stakeholders and members of the public in order to serve residents better and efficiently.
“In order to address the acute shortage of water in the system, Rand Water and the City of Tshwane are currently engaging on the technical review of historical water allocations to the city, as well as looking at water conservation and demand management.
“The municipal affordability will also be looked at when considering additional water allocation to the city to ensure that the municipality services its residents better and sustainably,” the department explained.
The department, Rand Water and the City of Tshwane have also called on the residents to conserve water and avoid using potable water for uses that would have “ordinarily been taken care of by rains, such as watering gardens, use of hosepipes to clean driveways and car wash etc”.
“Residents are further encouraged to fix water leaks in their homes and report those in their reticulation system to the municipality.” – SAnews.gov.za
