Gauteng water crisis a result of weak governance & poor infrastructure
Water experts say the supply issues in parts of Gauteng have nothing to do with water scarcity but are the result of a combination of weak governance and decaying infrastructure.
It’s been at least three weeks since Rand Water was forced to restrict its supply to the Johannesburg, Tshwane, and Ekurhuleni metros.
This follows reservoirs being constantly emptied much faster than they can be replaced.
While the recent heatwave and power cuts were blamed for the added pressure to the water supply, urban suitability expert from the Gauteng City-Region Observatory, Christina Culwick, said that the biggest problem lay with poor planning.
“It is less just because one person’s consumption directly impacts another person’s consumption. In some ways, it’s an obvious case of distributional injustice.”
At the same time, professor of climatology and director of the Global Change Institute at Wits University, Francois Engelbrecht, said that Rand Water should have been better prepared.
“This crisis has manifested while we are in one of the best positions we’ve been in many years in terms of the water supply that is available for Gauteng. Right now, as we speak, the integrated Vaal system is still at 95% of its capacity and it is therefore especially concerning that a water crisis like this can develop while we are not having any problems.”
Meanwhile, Rand Water management is expected to brief the public on Friday on its water supply constraints.
-EWN
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