Image: Verseo Consulting & Solutions
Kim Kemp | Editor
Water Sewage & Effluent July/August 2017
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daily usage, and woe betide anyone going
over their allocation as a heavy fine was
slapped on contraveners. I was even fined
for having a hosepipe attached to the garden
tap; although, through months of no use,
spiders had woven webs around the tap and
pipe head, and leaves had gathered in the
hose’s coils.
This severity has formed the foundation
of my water usage to this day, where I seek
out indigenous, hardy plants that require
little water, never leave a tap running during
ablutions, and basically take two-minute
showers.
As a ‘newbie’ to the water sector, I am
swamped by the number of initiatives that
are either due to be launched or are ongoing
around the water shortage, recycling, and
water wastage. The various authorities
appear keen to address the issue and I see
numerous events and meetings, conferences
or leadership forums (often by the same
authority, on the same day) discussing the
situation and mooting solutions.
However, I have come away reeling from
a number of these events, wondering if half
of the initiatives will see the light of day or if
the efforts are being diluted through ‘trying
to be everything to everyone’, as one player
queried. Is the funding going into forming
research teams and labour to discuss the
problem, rather than focusing on a handful
of urgent projects?
We have water boards that operate dams,
bulk water supply infrastructure, some
retail infrastructure, and some wastewater
systems, while some also provide technical
aid to municipalities. The operation of dams
means that they also play a role in water
resources management. These boards (of
which there are 15 in South Africa) report to
the Department of Water Affairs. Combined,
they indirectly serve more than 54.96 million
people in 278 municipalities, comprising
eight metropolitan, 44 district, and 226 local
municipalities.
Surely somewhere they have the teeth to
enforce restrictions over this multitude and
reinforce rather than dilute their efforts? Or
am I swimming against the tide?
technology
I
t is obvious that the country is wilting
under one of the severest droughts
in recent times. That, coupled with the
ongoing reminder in the media around
Cape Town’s plight, affords us little escape
from the dire situation we face as a nation.
We have no excuse for being in the dark
(despite Eskom’s efforts …).
As water restrictions are implemented
within the Western Cape, the rest of the
country could take a page from its situation
and curb the relentless, selfish, excessive use
of water.
Just this morning I witnessed this
priceless commodity running in a minor
river down the street, while cars splashed
blithely through the flow and pedestrians
sidestepped the inconvenience. After a
cursory inspection of the area, I realised
the water was leaking up through a crack
in the road. A serious leak was resulting in
the waste of thousands of litres of precious
water.
Leak detection is the very simplest form
of water loss management (WLM) and
one must question the proactivity of the
Johannesburg Water utility, as its phone
rang off the hook, unanswered. It was with
frustration that I continued my way to work,
impotent against the results of inefficiency
and neglect.
Our water system is sagging under a
combination of ageing infrastructure, poor
maintenance, and the influx of people into
the cities.
While there is a glimmer of hope on
the horizon with the budget setting 20% of
spend aside for water infrastructure (up from
2016, according to CESA’s latest Bi-annual
Economic Capacity Survey), it’s the people
who are washing cars, watering gardens, and
filling baths that should be curtailing their
unnecessary wastage. There should be strict
monitoring of water usage and heavy fines
imposed on violators, with no exception, no
leeway, and the harshest enforcement, to my
mind.
I recall the horrendous drought that
gripped the country in the 1980s where,
with a babe in arms, our family of four was
allowed a ‘massive’ 400ℓ per day of water —
the additional allowance purely because of
the baby, up from (if I recall correctly) 300ℓ
per household. Everyone had to monitor
Are efforts being diluted?