Johannesburg – Businesses that depended heavily on water should look into using equipment that used less water, Cooperative Governance Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Thursday.
“Municipalities are meeting with various stakeholders, they should also meet with businesses and work on how to mitigate this problem,” Gordhan told reporters at a briefing in Johannesburg.
“Businesses over time should look into using equipment that uses less water…we are a water scarce country.”
Gordhan and City of Joburg mayor Parks Tau briefed media on water supply shortages that have affected large parts of the country.
He said the water shortages were not a crisis.
“A crisis is something that cannot be handled, we are having a problem not a crisis.”
Gordhan would not comment on the impact the water shortages was having on farmers and food production.
A ministerial task team would on Friday release information on the impact of the drought and the lack of water supply, he said.
Five provinces – KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, North West, Free State and the Northern Cape – have been declared disaster areas as lack of rainfall has worsened water supply.
African News Agency