Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, Edna Molewa, spent the weekend of 14^th and 15^th June visiting the province of Mpumalanga to hand over a number of water delivery projects to the municipalities of Bushbuckridge and Gert Sibande, including the launch of the emergency bulk raw water pipeline in Ermelo.

“The project [the emergency bulk raw water pipeline in Ermelo] will serve as a surplus raw water supply in this area and is aimed at addressing the water shortage in the Douglas Dam and Willem Brummer Dam. The project will therefore address the issue of the water shortage in the Ermelo area, Wesselton and Phumula Settlements,” said Molewa.

The Minister added that the Department is committed to assisting the Msukaligwa (Ermelo) municipality, which falls under the Gert Sibande District Municipality, in all its endeavours to provide water to the local communities and there are a number of other interventions that they have made to respond to the water crises in Ermelo.

“The Department has provided the Municipality with water storage tanks and an amount of R320 000 was put aside to cater for that intervention. An additional R500 000 was provided to assist the Municipality with technical and advisory services. Another amount of R52 million was provided to assist the municipality by construction a temporary pipeline while a long term measure is still under consideration,” explained Molewa.

Part of the long term solution under consideration is a parallel process for the provision of a permanent technical solution to provide water to the Ermelo/Wesselton service area through the Regional Bulk Infrastructure Grant, which is worth approximately R32 million and should be completed by October this year, according to Molewa.  “A further R335 million is earmarked for the Msukaligwa Water Supply Scheme for Ermelo, Wesselton and Breyton.”

Rand Water has been appointed as an implementing agent for the Ermelo water supply emergency project, with the primary objective of the project being the installation of the 350 mm diameter bulk gravity feeder main to provide raw water to the Northern Water Treatment Works and Southern Water Treatment Works in order to address the water shortage in the Ermelo, Wesselton and Phumula Settlements.

At the launch of the project on Saturday 15 June Minister Molewa, accompanied by a number of high-ranking provincial delegates, turned on the pipe that made this possible.