Joburg’s water crisis: A Christmas Grinch and no relief in sight

While Johannesburg’s water crisis is receiving significant attention, there’s no relief in sight.

Just more talk.

Yesterday, there was a Gauteng provincial government imbizo for councillors. On Monday night, the Joburg council speaker convened a public meeting in Coronationville on the “pressing water crisis”.

Earlier on Monday, mayor Dada Morero, was “leading crucial discussions with the Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry to address and collaborate with business on the city’s ongoing water challenges”.

“Leading” was the wrong word.

Having failed, Morero’s GLU (government of local uselessness) shouldn’t be leading such discussions. They should be pleading with business for expert help.

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A first step should be to remove the entire unqualified, incompetent, politically appointed Johannesburg Water Board.

The flurry of political activity seems designed to create the impression that much is happening and we can begin to feel relaxed about water supply.

In fact, Johannesburg’s water situation remains dire and will not improve before Christmas, New Year, or any time in the near future.

Acting like a Christmas Grinch, Rand Water has scheduled maintenance of its Eikenhof and Zwartkopjes pump stations over 86 hours, from 13 to 16 December.

When a large section of the water network is drained, the system takes a long time to stabilise. In this case, about two weeks.

It’s not simply a matter of opening valves and quickly filling pipes. Pressure fluctuations can cause havoc with pipes, especially the fragile asbestos concrete relics which predominate.

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There are also weak points where these pipes connect with newer PVC sections.

Bursts and leaks are inevitable, undermining water saving efforts.

The creaky system must be carefully managed, with continuous rebalancing between reservoirs, towers, etc.

People in Joburg’s high-lying areas curse these multiday outages. Gravity sucks when it leaves you dry.

But we don’t have to wait for Rand Water maintenance. Hardship is ongoing. At the time of writing, half of my ward has been without water for two days.

Other wards, especially on the west side of Joburg, are worse off.

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Much of the material at this week’s meetings is recycled, with some of it out of date. For example, in mayor Morero’s presentation, Joburg Water was said to have an infrastructure maintenance backlog of R26.91 billion. Yet Joburg Water’s turnaround strategy 2024 puts the backlog at R32.54 billion.

What difference does a mere R5.63 billion make when you don’t understand maths, accounting or the need to balance books because your main job is to ensure that cadres get all available contracts?

None of the presentations deals properly with another core Joburg Water problem – the absence of clear, timeous, relevant communication. The Joburg Water hierarchy don’t have a clue what that means.

They roll out the same mumbo jumbo at every “urgent” meeting, without connecting to their customers. Ward councillors are at the front line of this communication drought.

We spend hours asking for updates on behalf of residents.

Joburg Water responses are few and far between. And they never crisply explain causes.

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There is no estimated time of restoration for Joburg Water.

Festive survival tip – if you have cash to spare this Christmas, invest in a JoJo. Ho ho ho.