The DA has dispatched a “water dossier” to the national government and the South African Human Rights Commission, describing an outage crisis in Nelson Mandela Bay, where tens of thousands of residents are going without water daily.
DA MPL Retief Odendaal said on Thursday the situation was critical, but could still be fixed if the metro was compelled to allocate funding, appoint the necessary technicians and fast-track projects.
“At a time when our dams are full, 60% of our supply is non-revenue water [lost to leaks, theft and absent or faulty metering systems], which is the highest for any metro in SA.
“As a result, on any given day, an estimated 100,000 residents are left without water, and there is not a single day when at least one Bay community is not affected in this way.
“Since May 7, the metro has issued 57 notices on its Facebook page alone, dealing with water disruptions and outages.”
He said the non-revenue water problem could be traced back to the state of the metro’s water distribution and supply system.
“Bulk water pipes regularly burst, there are currently approximately 7,000 leaks across our reticulation network, and our reservoirs are leaking like sieves.
“This situation is being compounded by the installation of non-metered ‘straight connections’.”
Straight connections were installed as a temporary measure by the metro after water supply to vulnerable communities broke or was vandalised.
He said related problems included reduced capacity at the metro’s water treatment works, and the continued failure to bring borehole projects online.
Another issue was that the city’s water supply system was still not integrated.
This was to allow the transfer of water, when the metro’s western dams ran low, from the main Nooitgedacht treatment works in the northeast to the city’s southern and central suburbs.
“This alone is a massive problem, and that project needs to be funded and put back on the table.”
Odendaal said the state of the metro’s water distribution and supply infrastructure was in turn the result of a drastic shortage of technically skilled staff.
“In our water services department, we have a vacancy of 64%.
“We have skilled and committed technicians but not nearly enough of them.
“We need engineers, plumbers and other artisans.”
He said one of the further problems in the current leadership of the Bay water department was skewed priorities.
“There is pressure, for instance, to build a desalination plant.
“We are saying, no — instead of focusing on hugely expensive augmentation projects like that, rather spend that money first on reducing our non-revenue water.”
Municipal spokesperson Sithembiso Soyaya did not respond by the time of publication.
Ward 1 councillor Dries van der Westhuyzen said there was a desperate need for skilled and committed personnel and implementation of strategies in other departments such as safety and security.
“We need these guys to protect water infrastructure from theft and vandalism.
“We gave them a plan as to how this could be done. But that plan is now on a shelf.”
Odendaal said the dossier detailed the extent of the Bay water crisis and the DA’s exhaustive efforts to correspond with the authorities about the situation.
It was sent to water and sanitation minister Pemmy Majodina, Eastern Cape co-operative governance MEC Zolile Williams and the human rights commission.
He said he had also written to mayor Babalwa Lobishe and acting city manager Lonwabo Ngoqo ”to impress on them the urgency of addressing the crisis and highlighting immediate interventions".
“Stable, sustainable electricity and water supply for the metro is one of our top priorities,” he said.
“If funds are properly allocated and spent, and we appoint the necessary skilled technicians, within two to three years we can fix this water crisis.”
He said to do this, however, urgent action was required.
“We need to appoint a permanent executive director for water services, fill critical technical vacancies, restore offline borehole schemes, accelerate maintenance at treatment plants such as Nooitgedacht and Kabah, fast-track leak repairs, improve integration of the metro’s water supply system, and table an updated water services master plan.
“The municipality needs to act now but does not have the competency to do so.
“It is for that reason that the national department must step in to urgently second experienced technical professionals to support the metro to address this deepening water crisis.
“This is no longer a service delivery crisis — it is a humanitarian crisis.”
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