Johannesburg Water's plan to “throttle” supply to areas across the city is primarily aimed at relieving pressure in the city's ageing pipes, to prevent them from bursting.
This minimises water lost to leaks, and also allows reservoirs to fill up overnight.
Throttling is one of several planned interventions by the city to improve the water system, says Regenald Wesso, Johannesburg Water's regional manager for Zandfontein, which includes Sandton and Alexandra.
“If you look back over time you will notice that a lot, if not most, incidents of pipe bursts happen at night. There is a simple explanation for that. At night, far less people use water, so consumption is down while we keep putting water in the system. This leads to pressure building and that causes more bursting pipes,” Wesso told the Sunday Times.
Johannesburg Water implemented water throttling this week as part of its renewed efforts to save water and clamp down on illegal connections.
It entails water supply being curtailed by 50% between 9pm and 4am in areas with high consumption within a specific reservoir feeder area. It works on a rotational basis, with the focus currently on areas with high consumption, though there are plans to implement it citywide.
“The issue is usage that must go down,” Wesso said. “Non-payment is a problem, but it is not connected to throttling.” He said affluent areas often used more water than poor areas, where non-payment was prevalent.
“To give you an idea, the area I manage is Zandfontein, but that includes both Sandton and Alex, one of the more affluent and one of the more economically challenged areas in Gauteng.
“When a water system is designed, the affluence of the area is kept in mind. More affluent areas will use more water for things like gardens, washing multiple vehicles and baths. In an affluent area we will budget for higher consumption. In a place like Sandton it will be about 1,200l used per household per day, while in Alex it is about 600l.
“There is a proportional effect, with the rich probably affected more. Less affluent people are more used to lower consumption so they will feel our interventions less.”
Throttling is not the only intervention planned.
“The repair and maintenance teams will be increased, we will have more contractors for emergency repairs of leaks and burst pipes, illegal connections will be cut off and we will install new pressure monitoring systems,” Wesso said.
On Tuesday, Johannesburg Water had to abandon disconnections in Phumla Mqashi informal settlement in Lenasia South after a tense stand-off with residents, who threw stones at officials. Metro police responded by firing rubber bullets to disperse the crowd. The area was initially served by water tanks, but the city says the tanks were vandalised.
On Friday the city disconnected illegal water connections in Emdeni, Soweto.
But the elephant in the room is the ageing infrastructure.
“We have to acknowledge this. We have a backlog in pipe replacement, but to replace the infrastructure that needs replacing carries a hefty price tag of about R11bn. Until we have those funds available, we have to rely on our other interventions to keep the water flowing.”
Ferrial Adam from non-profit organisation WaterCAN said she believes that “for now, throttling is the road forward”.
“The city has little other option to ensure everyone has access to water. This is a right guarded by our constitution.”
But she does not believe claims by some officials that water wastage by residents is the root of the problem.
“When they [city officials] speak about water use, they do not take into account agriculture, industry or huge government buildings. If government fixes our infrastructure and shows they are working hard to save water, the public will gladly support them by following their example.”
She said ageing infrastructure was a massive issue. “We have 87 reservoirs in Johannesburg and 42 of them are leaking. This needs to be a priority for Johannesburg Water. Throttling can only do so much if the reservoirs cannot be filled to capacity.”
She said the Hurst Hill 1 and 2 reservoirs were perfect examples. “They are supposed to serve a large area, but Hurst Hill 1 is not currently operational and number two has leaks. So even if you throttle, that area will still have problems with supply.”
A fix is in the pipeline, but will take time. “The tender is going out soon but I suspect it will take three and a half years before these two are fixed.”
Prof Craig Sheridan, director of the Centre in Water and Research Development at Wits University, sees throttling as a temporary solution.
“This is nothing more than a stopgap. A plan would be to close the leaking reservoirs and sections of pipe one by one and fix them.”
He believes there is another issue at the heart of the problem.
“This is not a technical issue. It is a financial and management issue.”
Announcing water throttling in Johannesburg this week, water & sanitation minister Pemmy Majodina said South Africans were consuming too much water.
“We’re using 218l per capita per day against the international standard and norm of 173l. We need to reduce consumption,” she said. “We are not in crisis. We have water, but let us use it sparingly.”
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