Johannesburg - The Gauteng government has come out with a six-point plan to tackle the water crisis, and they are coming for anyone and any system that wastes water.
Errant golf estates and shopping malls could face the possibility of drought tariffs as part of the provincial government’s measures to clamp down on those who waste water. Construction firms and municipalities will also be targeted in the drastic measures.
“We might need to relook the way we are tariffing different water users. A case in point was whether we are looking at golf estates differently,” City of Joburg mayoral committee member for infrastructure services and environment Matshidiso Mfikoe said on Monday.
She was speaking at a media briefing following a Water and Sanitation Forum held to report on the six-point action plan they came up with. Water and Sanitation Minister Nomvula Mokonyane also attended the forum, which consisted of representatives from national, provincial and local government as well as Rand Water and Eskom.
Mfikoe said: “The minister pointed out that some golf estates become estates after development processes have been approved. When they make applications for developments they are smalholdings, but then we see golf estates and shopping malls. So we’re going to schedule different tariffs.”
Gauteng Co-operative Governance, Traditional Affairs and Human Settlements MEC Jacob Mamabolo highlighted the plans, which are aimed at getting Gautengers to “put one drop of water back into the reservoir”.
The first point of the plan is to curb leakage.
“We’re waging a war against water leaks. In our province, we have statistics that point out that we have a large quantity of water leakages. We have agreed that what needs to be done is for members of the public to report water leaks and for us to ensure quick, sustained and prompt response.”
Gauteng also wants residents to harvest their own water from rain.
The MEC said: “We need to make sure that homes, schools, clinics, police stations and government departments build capacity to harvest water. As we go into the rainy season, what we are going to be promoting is the campaign to install technologies and systems to harvest water.”
Mamabolo said they were working on improving infrastructure to match supply with the daily water demand at its peak.
“We are going to guarantee uninterrupted supply for all essential services,” he said, adding that hospitals would be among the services prioritised.
“Municipalities will have rapid response teams, particularly of engineers, to respond to emergencies, Rand Water as well.”
He said Eskom had been roped in to make sure water distribution and storage sites always have electricity. He suggested that the construction sector would also be targeted for water saving.
“The construction sector is one sector that we want to engage about water usage. How we build houses controls how much water is saved.”
The provincial government will also embark on a door-to-door water education campaign, he added.
The Star