Johannesburg’s failing water system leaves residents out of pocket

Rand Water’s planned maintenance on the Zuikerbosch Water Treatment Plant has turned into a nightmare for some Johannesburg residents when the water just never came back.

It is no laughing matter that large parts of Johannesburg have been without water for over a week since Monday, July 15, 2024, whether that means dry taps or low water pressure for over 60 000 residents.

This comes after Rand Water commenced the second phase of its maintenance plan, which saw the Palmiet Booster System reduced to a 68% pumping capacity for 50 hours. These long hours came and went, but the water never returned to residents’ homes.

Councillor Jill Humphrey’s said: “Not knowing, not being informed, is not acceptable when our community is so severely impacted.”

Taps were fully open but completely dry during the week of water outages, and this is expected again starting Monday, July 29, for up to two weeks. Photo: Victoria Hill

Having prepared for only low water pressure on a scheduled timeline, many residents’ in over 16 areas were left scrambling to fulfil their basic needs. Research by the City of Johannesburg’s Environment and Infrastructure Services Department suggests that residents in South Africa approximately use 275 litres per capita per day.

Because JoJo tanks and rotating water tankers were in such high demand, many residents did not have access to this alternative water supply, albeit undrinkable.

A resident in Germiston, Tristyn Denempont, said: “The water tankers that were scheduled to be positioned closest to our area were not easily accessible, and not all of them actually arrived, meaning we had to travel further to use the tankers”.

Thus, they had to resort to buying water for everyday tasks, such as cooking, drinking, and washing dishes and clothes. Wits Vuvuzela ran the numbers — if the average cost of a five-litre bottle of water is R25, this equates to R1 375 per day, which accumulates to nearly R10 000 for the seven-day dry spell. This is an added cost for households above and beyond their monthly water and sanitation bills.

Denempont added, “both my parents are retirees with health problems, and carrying the water is very difficult for them. Fortunately, I am at home to help them most of the time, but if they want to fill up the kettle for tea from the 5L bottle when I’m out, it is physically difficult for them to do. This means I had to ensure I had water in manageable containers that weren’t too heavy for them to lift and move when they did need to use water in my absence”.

It was no surprise when councillors in affected areas received multiple complaints from residents, Jane Skipsey said: “I wish they would stick to their promises and follow the timeline they provided regarding the maintenance period”.

Rand Water has since issued a notice informing residents the third and final phase of the Zuickerbosch maintenance plan will be going ahead on Monday, July 29 with water supply affected for up to 40 hours. They have added in their statement that water supply may be interrupted for up to 15 days after the completion of maintenance.

Denempont said he is “feeling very apprehensive about the upcoming scheduled maintenance, as they have already shown themselves to be unreliable with restoring water flow to our area”.

No one can say what the coming week will bring, and residents can only hope for Rand Water and the City of Ekurhuleni to hear their prayers. 

FEATURED IMAGE: Bottles of water lined up in the boot of a resident’s car to try and stock up for water outages. Photo: Victoria Hill

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The Vaal River System gate where water is stored and flushed out when it reaches above capacity to allow for treatment and purification of more water. Water is then pumped through a series of water networks and piped into our homes.
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The Southern African region is reportedly suffering one of the worst droughts in recent years. In light of this ongoing drought, the City Of Johannesburg (CoJ) announced further measures following level two water restrictions have been in place since November last year. These new measures include fines of up to R1500 for the misuse of water by using sprinklers, hose pipes to wash cars and the use of municipal water to fill up swimming pools.

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William Cullen and Wartenweiler flooded overnight

 

FLOOD: Water damage caused part of the ceiling at Wartenweiler library to collapse. Flooding from open taps has closed Wartenweiler William Cullen library. Photo: Provided

FLOOD: Water damage caused part of the ceiling at Wartenweiler library to collapse. Flooding from open taps has closed Wartenweiler and William Cullen library.                                                        Photo: Provided

The Willam Cullen and Wartenweiler libraries were flooded overnight after bathroom taps were left open during the water outage yesterday.

Michele Pickover, the principle curator for the historical papers research archives, said that the staff arrived this morning to flooding on the third basement of the William Cullen library where the archives are kept. Not all the archives were affected but the extensive collection of press cuttings used by researchers was damaged by water.

The collection covers the periods from 1940 to 2000 and captures a lot of the South African history. They have been removed from the original holding area to be dried.

“In the event that they are too badly damaged we will have to try digitise them to make them useful still for researchers,” said Pickover. The Rivonia Trial documents, court papers from the trial of former president Nelson Mandela and others, are safe as they are kept in a separate location.

According to Pickover, the university will be providing dehumidifiers to help lessen the dampness and humidity in the basement. In the long run though the department is looking to move to a new building that will house the archives as the current one is not ideal.

William Cullen library was closed today on the advisement of Property and Infrastructure Management Division as they wanted to inspect the danger of water and electricity to the computers and equipment in the building.

Wartenweiler library was partly closed today. It had two of its floors affected by the flood and kept these blockaded as a safety precaution for the students. They are still in the process of assessing the extent of the damage said Paiki Muswazi, the deputy university librarian.

Both libraries will be open tomorrow.

 

 

Oui, Oui Wits!

Wits University was the first to try out the waterless urinal in South Africa.

In 1983 the Switzerland based company Addicom introduced the waterless urinal to South Africa during a time when the country was suffering from a major drought.

Statistics show that before waterless systems, urinals used over six litres of water to flush once. Low volume flush toilets and duel function flush toilets

The first waterless urinals allowed urine to be flushed down into the urinal and straight into the pipe line without the need of any water.

However, these initial models were not favoured as they needed constant maintenance and over time would cause a build up of sludge which gave off a bad odour.

The next model was one that allowed urine to pass through a layer of vegetable oil which would float on top of the waste and block any smells.

The oil may have suppressed the smell, but dirt and grime became an even bigger issue. Later an alternative sealant liquid was used to suppress smell. This still caused grime build up over time.

After extensive research and tests, a solution to the problem was finally found when Addicom introduced the new waterless urinal model in 2000.

The new system was patented the “EcoSmellstop” which used a system which sealed off odour and has self cleansing properties. This made maintenance far better than in the past.

The “EcoSmellstop” works with a drain that has a none-return valve, known as the “curtain valve”. This valve opens when a small amount of liquid is poured onto it and then closes again. Women might see this as being the valve, or flap seen in a porter-potty.

In this way no sealant liquid or water is needed to dispose of urine.

Wits University was the first to experiment the invention of the “curtain valve” which was introduced in 2003.

Within the first three years of its introduction, around 100 000 “EcoSmellstop” urinal, curtain-valve systems have been installed throughout South Africa. This allowed municipalities to also provide toilets in areas where it would otherwise be very expensive to do.

The waterless urinal was a success and now many public areas such as taxi ranks, schools and universities country wide, make use of this low maintenance, cost effective solution.  Wits just happened to be one of the first.