Water, Sewage & Effluent January February 2019 | Page 42

In towns such as Krugersdorp, a combination of power failures and burst pipes led to days of dry taps.
Figure 1: Percentage distribution of households that received municipal water and that reported water interruptions that lasted more
than two days at a time by province, 2017.
fears that an intermittent supply could
damage the infrastructure and lead to
sewage blockages. But, already, this
is being done in many Eastern Cape
towns. In other countries, it has been
shown that such interruptions also lead
to infiltration of polluted groundwater,
creating health risks.
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Nonetheless, the UN’s Joint Monitoring
Programme that oversees the water
SDG, has recognised that it will be a
long time before many cities are able
to provide 24/24 and 365/365 supply —
few Indian cities do that, for instance.
So, they are considering recognising
‘safely managed’ services that are
Water Sewage & Effluent January/February 2019
interrupted, provided the interruptions
are programmed and not too long.
Even with this leeway though,
unless our municipalities get their act
together, we are unlikely to turn the
trend and start moving towards that
ambitious goal of “water for all” by
2030. 
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