WATER POLITICS

Reservoir levels in South Africa’s most populous province are plunging and continent’s biggest bulk-water supplier has warned that taps may soon run dry in cities where about 12 million people live.

Rand Water — which supplies the cities of Johannesburg, Pretoria and Ekurhuleni — on Oct. 12 said water-storage facilities may soon be depleted if municipalities do not act on its recommendations to fix leaks and conserve water. The hottest days of the summer so far, with temperatures hitting as high as 37C this weekend, are exacerbating the situation.

“It is essential to act now to prevent the impending disaster,” the utility said.

Like South Africa’s power plants and transport networks, the country’s water-supply systems have deteriorated because of inadequate maintenance, a lack of planning for population growth, mismanagement, corruption and political infighting. Gauteng’s municipalities routinely draw more water than the amount allocated to them.

Johannesburg Water Management Ltd., which distributes water in the city, loses 44% of the volume supplied to it to leaks and theft.

The City of Tshwane, the municipal area that includes the capital, Pretoria, said on Oct. 13 that unless water consumption falls, it will impose severe usage restrictions. Rand Water is pumping 800 million liters (211 million gallons) a day to the municipality, 18% more than its allocation and consumption is still rising despite the city’s pleas, it said.

City of Tshwane urges consumers to conserve water to avoid higher restriction levels pic.twitter.com/5qMUMdJCqu

— City of Tshwane (@CityTshwane) October 13, 2024

“This behavior is putting the city’s bulk-water system under severe strain and may lead to the municipality’s system running dry and eventually collapsing,” it said.

The City of Johannesburg warned of rising demand and said residents, especially those in high-lying areas, could experience outages.

Rand Water can’t pump more water from the Vaal River system because of the limits of its extraction license with the Department of Water and Sanitation, it said. A late summer drought earlier this year triggered by the El Niño weather phenomenon also reduced water levels.

In addition to rising consumption, Gauteng is facing water shortages because of delays caused by the South African government that pushed out the completion of a $2 billion project to increase supplies from Lesotho, a mountainous enclave in South Africa, by a decade until 2029.