Joburg mayor says there is no water crisis in city as Eikenhof pump station goes down again

Daily Maverick asked Johannesburg mayor Kabelo Gwamanda about the water crisis affecting more than three million people. His spokesperson, Mlimandlela Ndamase, started by saying the City is staying in control of the water supply system. Ferial Haffajee asked the questions.

Joburg mayor says there is no water crisis in city as Eikenhof pump station goes down again

Question: Have the mayor and the administration lost control of the water system?

I ask because, on Friday, 15 March, the mayor said: “As things stand, all systems are currently recovering, and supply has been restored to most of the previously affected areas.”

On Sunday, 17 March Johannesburg Water said its systems were still critical.

Answer: No control has been lost on the City’s water supply systems. Indeed, as of Friday, the system was recovering steadily from the impact of the power outages that affected bulk water pumping into the [Johannesburg] system on 3/4 March 2024.

By Friday all residents were receiving water supply via their taps as usual, with some low pressure in areas linked to areas supplied through the Linden 1 and 2 towers, mainly the Blairgowrie suburb.

Johannesburg Water monitors the water supply system continuously and even under normal circumstances (where no outage has occurred). It regularly warns residents when demand peaks drastically [and] threatens the reliability and capacity of the system. The recent heatwaves have, among other factors, resulted in a drastic water demand peak. As a responsible water supplier, Johannesburg Water must warn residents to use less water to avoid excessive water depletion.

Water use patterns in our City and beyond are higher per capita than international standards in large cities like Johannesburg. Many need to be made aware that we are a water-scarce country and that Johannesburg is the only city in the world not built along a riverbank or ocean (Paris has the Seine, London the Thames, New York the Hudson, etc.

[In fact, large parts of Soweto, the deep south of the city (like Orange Farm, Lawley and Lenasia), and the west (the Hursthill and Commando systems) had low to no water at the weekend, impacting most of the city, as Daily Maverick reported here.]

Q: The mayor is also quoted as saying that Johannesburg is not experiencing a water crisis. Is this correct, and what did the mayor mean by this?

A: The mayor defines a crisis as a water supply system under total collapse with no mitigation or alternative supply options or [a]… humanitarian crisis where the general population has “zero” access to water. While he doesn’t define the current outage as a crisis, he doesn’t attach any less significance to the frustration and disruption caused by the absence of water from normal operations. It remains challenging and urgent, and he severely empathises with residents.

He too lives in Johannesburg and was severely affected by the unavailability of water in the high-lying areas.

The outage was an isolated and infrequent occurrence. You had 50% of the Johannesburg water supply area affected by a water disruption. It caused great panic and was devastating for both residents and businesses. However, the outages were repaired swiftly, and within a day to two days many systems began supplying water to residents, which was customary in some areas and with some low pressure in others. Of the 60 out of 128 systems affected by the outage, 54 recovered quite steadily and only six, mainly the Linden and Kensington B reservoirs and towers, experienced delays.

These systems are located at the end of the water supply network and, unfortunately, include some high-lying areas, making the recovery more challenging than the other areas. Overall, most of the city enjoys a reliable and consistent water supply.

A 30-minute interruption in water pumping from a pump station, such as Eikenhof, needs a five- to six-hour recovery period to reach normal pumping pressure. The total outages of 3 and 4 March meant water pumping was severely affected by nearly 48 hours of outages at different points and linked to several events. Hence, the system recovery was protracted.

It may take a few minutes or hours to repair the power outage, but once repaired, the pumps are re-energised one at a time and gradually increase in volume to avoid overcharging the system and causing further power trips and potential pressure explosions on the pipelines. So, a complex and delicate process is put in place to ensure the system is diligently managed to protect it from total collapse.

Q: Is Johannesburg’s water not a severe crisis that demands an emergency or declaration of disaster response?

A: Several areas throughout the city have experienced water outages at various points. These have been isolated and linked to a variety of factors. Some have been due to power outages, some to vandalism, infrastructure theft, etc. Some water supply disruptions have been pre-planned to allow for maintenance and water infrastructure upgrades. Where this has been the case, residents have been forewarned, and alternative water sources have been provided, as is the case with unplanned outages.

We accept that our infrastructure has several challenges. The city has aged infrastructure that is vulnerable to leaks and incessant disruption. These are sporadic occurrences, more regular in some areas than others, but the City is doing its best to maintain and replace old infrastructure where possible and rapidly.

We empathise with our residents in areas where these disruptions are regular and accept that the investment in infrastructure needs to catch up to the rate of development realised in some areas.

The City currently has many projects in various design, procurement and construction phases to respond to this challenge. However, its limited resources will only allow it to respond promptly.

The City’s current water and sanitation infrastructure backlog is estimated to be R27-billion, and the City is spending only R1-billion annually on water and sanitation infrastructure. Ideally, this should be R3-billion to attend to the backlogs decisively.

We are talking to the national government and private sector to consider several financial instruments that may assist the City with resources to meet the infrastructure demands.

Q: Is the mayor a man of his word? At a crisis meeting I attended in the South last year, the mayor announced that a task team would be set up to deal with the community’s issues. I checked back with them this week. The task team’s promise came to naught. They have not heard back from the mayor’s office except for a single terms-of-reference meeting.

A. We will follow up on the same and advise. DM