Gauteng’s water worries hit a new level this week with many residents complaining of no water due across Johannesburg. Johannesburg Water responded to the concerns by addressing the media on the 28th of November to outline their strategy for a water-secure Gauteng.
By Duncan Nortier Johannesburg Water has taken a proactive approach to dealing with the supply-side water fiasco before it reaches a critical point. Since Rand Water’s announcement that they were worried about over-extraction and over-demand, Johannesburg Water has implemented aggressive tactics to curb consumption and reduce usage. Mid-November saw an increase in the concern for water supply as the Commando system failed to recover after emergency maintenance by City Power at the Eikenhof booster station. In the context of the ongoing crisis management and the concern from Johannesburg residents about access to water, the managing director of Johannesburg Water Mr Ntshavheni Mukwevho says, “it is important for us to communicate what we are doing, and what we aim to do for our water users to trust us and understand what the reality of the water situation is.” Logan Munsamy, operations manager for Johannesburg Water says, “While the strategy we have adopted is not new, it is in line with what we were already doing, we have updated and accelerated it in some areas to bring our water usage down to sustainable levels.”Bulk water supply
Rand Water supplies Johannesburg with 1750 megalitres (Ml) per day, accounting for 35% of its current extraction license of 4936 Ml per day. This license will expire in September 2025, and be lowered to 4383 Ml per day, but much earlier from December 1st 2024 Rand Water will only supply Johannesburg Water with 1600 Ml a day. This reduction is aimed at ensuring the storage levels of the bulk supply remain stable in this time of dry weather and heat waves. Johannesburg Water has implemented immediate reforms of deemed consumption, where flat rates are replaced with metered consumption. Logan adds that “ we are also scheduling water supply reduction between 21:00 to 04:00 starting on 14 November 2024 with the possibility of increasing the duration from 16:00 to 04:00 should we not observe a reduction of demand. This restriction will include the supply of informal settlements.” This is aided by intensifying level 3 water disconnections, which remove water users from the city’s supply due to illegal usage. “We are implementing technical strategies on our side, but we also urge consumers to use water sparingly at this time,” adds Mukwevho.
Pressure-reducing valves can help control flow and reduce the risk of bursts.
Technical interventions
Johannesburg Water states that it understands that consumption is not only a consumer issue but an issue within its own system. Johannesburg Water’s leakages account for 24% of the total water use and represent a significant hurdle to sustainable usage.Munsamy says, “We have increased our responses to address non-revenue water, in particular leakages, and this effort will represent a large savings in water use from our side.”
Some of the technical interventions are:- Increase burst repair turnaround time from 48hours to 24 hours
- Expedite the procurement of a contract for the emergency repairs of water pipe bursts and allocate the budget accordingly.
- Expedite the procurement of critical material for the repair of leaking water Network infrastructure.
- Allocate overtime budget for additional teams during weekends and weekdays.
- Procuring a contract for welding services to supplement the existing welding teams.
- Procure contractors to supply an additional 10 tractor-loaded backhoes (TLBs) – 1 per depot- so that water teams have 2 dedicated TLBS to use for emergency repairs.
- Intensify the use of first-line response teams to isolate the leaking water while waiting for the repair teams to come.
- Intensify the repair and Maintenance of Network pressure-reducing valves (PRVs) and reduce network pressure effected from October 2024.
- Expedite the procurement of a service provider to supplement internal resources. So far there are 204 completed PRVS out of the 685 total complement.
- Pressure Management and Installation of Smart Controllers utilising the existing frame contract.
- Additional Capex budget for installation of additional 45 Smart Controllers
- Advance leak detection utilising the existing frame contract
- Additional Capex budget for procurement of additional 200 noise loggers.
Johannesburg Water’s active leak detection saved approximately 9000 Ml per annum
- Repairs of leaking reservoirs and tower infrastructure.
- Repair and replacement of zonal bulk water meters.
- Active and passive leak detection.
- Establishing new pressure management zones and minimum night flow analysis.
- Retrofitting and removal of wasteful devices (Infrastructure upgrade and renewal).
- By-law enforcement (Illegal connection cut-off and reconnections).
- Replacement and refurbishment of large gate valves.
- Water pipe replacement.
- Domestic and large consumer meter replacement.
The overall objectives
Johannesburg Water aims to decrease water consumption by 37123 ML per annum from the technical interventions. This is an effective reduction of 103 Ml a day from technical intervention alone. Rand Water will reduce supply from 1750 Ml a day to 1600 Ml a day in December 2024, and then further reduce the supply to 1 550Ml/d between February 2025 and April 2025, then gradually reduce supply to 1356 Ml/d by September 2025. This is a significant reduction that Johannesburg Water has to meet by improving its technical intervention and strategies so as to not impact the supply of water to the public.
Rand Water and Johannesburg Water aim to reduce consumption to ensure sustainability in their water reserves.
