The Department of Water and Sanitation has assured South Africans that the country is not short of water.
This is as Johannesburg Water will continue to restrict water supplies between 9pm and 4am, to allow reservoir levels to recover.

The city intends to implement this measure continuously from November 14 until the system is fully restored.

Johannesburg has experienced increasing disruptions to water supplies due to, among other challenges, increased demand.

The Ministry of Water and Sanitation says the main underlying cause of water supply disruptions in Johannesburg is that peak water demand is close to and sometimes exceeds Rand Water’s available supply.

It says the relationship between supply and demand for treated water in Johannesburg is tight and the system remains vulnerable.
This comes as Rand Water is unable to supply more water to Gauteng municipalities than it already is.

Minister of Water and Sanitation Pemmy Majodina said Johannesburg Water aims to reduce water consumption to 175 liters per person per day, from the current rate of 270 liters per person per day.

“Johannesburg Water has presented the applicable measure which includes, among other things, limiting the water supply between 9 p.m. and 4 a.m. This is in line with our level one restriction to allow reservoirs to recover overnight. If they don’t, the tanks won’t be able to fill. So we do this overnight. The city intends to implement this measure continuously from November 14 until the system is fully restored.

Johannesburg Water outlines the measures it is implementing, including limiting water supplies between 9 p.m. and 4 a.m. to allow reservoir levels to recover overnight.

The city intends to implement this measure continuously from November 14 until the system is fully restored.

Other measures include:

• Recruitment of a panel of contractors for emergency repairs.
• Increase the number of teams on standby during the week and on weekends to intervene in the event of leaks and burst pipes.
  Improve leak repair response times from 48 hours to 24 hours.
• Increase the number of trucks available for its leak repair and maintenance teams.
• Implement illegal connection cuts in major informal settlements.
• Reduce water loss at night when demand is low, which will significantly reduce water loss.
• Acceleration of leak detection.
• And work with the National Treasury to establish a public-private partnership for the reduction of non-revenue water.

But even though the ministry acknowledges the existence of a crisis, it says there is no drought.

Minister Majodina says: “There is no drought but we are in crisis. We can turn around. We must respect water restrictions.

The province calls for respect for the user-pays principle.

Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi says: “Our challenges will be less if we pay. We need to reduce consumption faster, otherwise the system will not be able to support us. We are well above the red line.