A man uses a bucket to wash on a roof in Doornfontein in Johannesburg. Photo: Sean Christie

South Africa’s urban uplands are in the grip of a water crisis, largely due to mismanagement at the municipal level, but with legitimate concerns about water levels in the dams that supply Johannesburg and its surrounding areas .

Daily and sometimes hourly news reports about water problems can be difficult to follow and interpret. To help readers, GroundUp has produced a summary of high and low waters for the month of November.

Bulk water supply

When it comes to water supply in large quantities, things seem to be going according to plan.

On 15 November, the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) invited the media to inspect ongoing maintenance works on the South African portions of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP), near Clarens, in the eastern Free State. Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation David Mahlobo said the maintenance shutdown of the LHWP, which enters the eighth week of the planned six-month shutdown, has not posed any problems for Gauteng’s water supply.

Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation David Mahlobo inspects the tunnel which normally carries water to South Africa from Lesotho. Photo: Tladi Moloi

“Prior to the shutdown, preparations took place on the ground to ensure the system was fully recharged. In other words, we needed to be able to recover the water (from the LHWP) and to the extent possible, that has happened. We know that enough water has been received. The crises in Gauteng have nothing to do with this system. We have been talking about what is happening in Gauteng and we don’t want to talk about it here,” Mahlobo said.

It was strange walking through the northern delivery tunnel, which is normally filled with water from Lesotho. The tunnel feeds water from the Ash River in South Africa, which flows into the Liebenbergsvlei River, which feeds the Vaal Dam, and from there the water is extracted, treated and pumped to water reservoirs in Johannesburg and in its surroundings.

The Lesotho Highlands Water Project has been shut down for six months to allow maintenance work on the transfer tunnels. This is the first time the public has been allowed inside the main delivery tunnel since the project officially opened in 1998. Photo: Tladi Moloi

As well as feeding the Vaal Dam, the Ash and Liebenbergsvlei rivers supply water to the local municipalities of Dihlabeng, Nketoana and Mafube in the Free State and, according to Mahlobo, enough water has fallen into the catchments of these rivers to ensure these communities receive water during the LHWP shutdown period.

Maintenance works on the South African side of the LHWP are overseen by the Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority (TCTA). According to Mike Croeser, an engineer working on the maintenance project, “the main work is to sandblast and cover all the steel linings in the north delivery tunnel…and there are some small repairs to the precast concrete portions of the tunnel, but these are very minor. “.

Croeser said he is confident the project will be completed within six months. Mahlobo added that if the works are not completed within six months, “a contingency plan will guarantee an additional three months of water supply.”

Most of the maintenance of the LHWP takes place in Lesotho, overseen by the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority (LHDA).

On November 17, the level at Vaal Dam stood at 31%, according to DWS data. Islands have appeared in the dam, and if the level continues to fall, tombs that were submerged during the Vaal Dam flood will begin to rise above the water surface, a phenomenon that has been documented several times over the years where the dam level has fallen below 30 percent. .

“It sounds dramatic, but this is all in line with the operating rule of the Vaal Integrated River System, which is to draw water from the Vaal Dam until the level reaches 18%, after which the water will be released from Sterkfontein. Dam in the Drakensberg,” said water specialist Richard Holden.

Large volumes of leaking water flow into storm drains downstream of Johannesburg. Photo: Sean Christie

Municipal water supply problems everywhere

November was a difficult month for Johannesburg Water, as the timeline below reveals.

November 6: A four-hour power outage at the Palmiet pumping station (following a three-hour outage on November 4) has crippled Johannesburg Water’s ability to supply a huge area, including Midrand, Diepsloot, Sandton and Alexandra. This is because Johannesburg Water’s reserves stood at 40%, too low to absorb the interruption in water pumping.

To pump water from Vaal Dam to reservoirs in the urban Highveld, bulk water supplier Rand Water relies on four booster stations: Palmiet, Eikenhof, Mapleton and Zwartkopjes.

In June, Rand Water undertook major maintenance works at the four booster stations.

An abandoned water treatment plant in Alexandra. Photo: Sean Christie

November 8: Johannesburg Water holds an online press conference, during which general manager of operations Mzakhe Mshweni explains that the water utility’s systems “have more or less recovered” from the Palmiet power outage, although the Diesploot Reservoir and Southhills Tower remained affected, and so Riverside View, Steyn City and Diesploot remain without water, as do Linmeyer, South Hills, Risana and The Hills.

Mtsheni said Johannesburg Water’s aim was to “try and mitigate an incident like this” by ensuring “we have at least 24 hours of reserves in all our systems”. To this end, he said, Johannesburg Water would implement “some aggressive interventions”.

The interventions outlined by Mtsheni are drawn from Johannesburg Water’s 2022 water conservation and water demand management programme, which he says has been scaled up, in the hope of stabilizing water supplies.

Mtsheni said these interventions would include reducing water supply to areas of high water consumption from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. on a scheduled basis, pressure management (“limitation”) whereby the Pressure in systems is reduced at night to prevent regular pipe bursts, and enforcement of regulations to manage problems. with illegal connections on bulk supply lines.

A Johannesburg Roads Agency employee opens a manhole cover in Doornfontein. Photo: Sean Christie

November 12: Johannesburg Water, in collaboration with the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department and SAPS Public Order Police, is attempting to disconnect illegal connections in the Phumla Mqashi informal settlement in Lenasia South. The media were invited to observe the operation, but the public relations exercise backfired when, as GroundUp reported reportedangry residents chased away Joburg Water technicians who came to remove illegal water connections.

November 14: Johannesburg Water says water pressure will be reduced by 50% overnight, from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m., to replenish water supplies. No date is given for the end of this restriction, which is in addition to Level 1 water use restrictions put in place in October, prohibiting watering gardens, washing cars and filling up vehicles. swimming pools between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.

November 15: The operation to disconnect illegal water connections continued in Emdeni, Soweto. At the Johannesburg Water briefing on November 8, Mtsheni explained that “eight or nine informal settlements” were targeted by the operation to disconnect illegal connections, “mostly in the South, on the Lenasia, Orange Farm and Ennerdale networks. “.

But, he stressed, illegal connections do not only occur in informal settlements. “We have businesses, institutions and housing developments that are on the list (and) you’ll be surprised how much water they consume.”

The Ash River during the first week of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project shutdown. The River Ash flows into the River Liebenbergsvlei, which supplies water to several communities in the Free State. Photo: Sean Christie

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