Johannesburg - City residents are feeling the punitive effects of not reducing their water consumption by 15%.
Joburg Water (JW) has now started introducing “water throttling”, which means a reduction in water pressure in areas which use too much water.
Some residents of Roodepoort and other areas around Western Johannesburg, especially those in high-lying areas, have been experiencing complete water cuts over the past few days.
But, said JW manager of communications, Tidimalo Chuene, people can only blame themselves for not adhering to water restrictions.
“People are still watering gardens and filling swimming pools and are not reducing consumption,” she said.
This was not watershedding or rationing as people were saying on social media. That would mean a complete shut down which JW is not doing, she said.
Chuene said that an announcement had been made a few weeks ago about water restrictions, punitive tariffs and throttling through adverts in the media.
It will not be possible to put out a schedule of water throttling, she said, because JW’s control room was monitoring the water towers and reservoirs on a 24-hour basis and if the controllers see water levels decreasing, they start the reduction of water pressure to the surrounding areas.
“We initially did have a schedule, but now it has become necessary to reduce the water supply when it is needed. Consumption therefore dictates. In some areas the consumption is so high that if we do not do this, we will run out of water completely,” she said.
She said that the reduction of water pressure was being done slowly so as not to damage pipes and other infrastructure.
“It is an act of fine balancing, It is equally frustrating for us to be doing this. But it seems as though many Joburg residents are more worried about their gardens and swimming pools than saving water.”
She is once again appealing to residents to reduce their water consumption as much as possible to avoid water throttling.
Many residents have taken to social media to voice their grievances and those who spoke to The Star described the water cuts as “unfair”.
Zanele Khanyile of Cosmo City said: “It is common knowledge that we are going through the worst drought as a province and maybe as a country, and, as a responsible citizen, I have been taking precautions to save water for the past year already. I also have been chatting to friends and also praying for rain,” she said.
She does not understand why the city cannot apply the same measures Eskom had applied during load shedding, warning residents ahead of time by providing schedules.
“As residents of Joburg we have been very cooperative with Eskom load shedding more because there was a schedule, but now COJ has indicated we will be having (water) restrictions”.
“Yes, we understand and expect it, but the way they are doing it is unfair as they watershed with no schedule, no warning and no expected times for services to be restored. With the new head of the municipality we were expecting better and hopefully it's not too much to ask. Water is a basic need and we need to be informed. Giving us a schedule would help. In KwaZulu Natal there have been restrictions for the past few months, but they are communicated to residents,” she said.
Ayanda Molefakgotla of Little Falls said the city must plan better and inform the public earlier so residents can make alternative arrangements.
“We have children that we need to be taken care of and cooking that needs to happen. Last minute shedding is a no, no, no.”
“I was infuriated yesterday. I tried to go to the nearest Checkers and Engen (garage) to buy two 5L of water unfortunately it was sold out,” said Molefakgotla.
Also left stranded was Fezeka Mamabolo of Randpark Ridge, who said she has a small child on formula.
@annacox
The Star