Joburg water curbs remain in place despite good rains

11 January 2017

 

Water restrictions in Johannesburg will remain in place despite an increase in dam levels following good rains over the past few days.

 

Member of the Mayoral Committee for Environment and Infrastructure Services Cllr Anthony Still said although the increase in the water level at the Vaal Dam had risen to 49.56%, residents still needed to continue heeding the call to save water.

The Vaal Dam level increased by about 5.16 percentage points at the weekend –from 44.4% on Friday January 6 to 49.56% on Monday January 9.

Cllr Still said there had been an encouraging improvement in the saving of water among residents since the introduction of Level 2 water restrictions late last year. But he stressed that more still needed to be done to save the precious but scarce resources.

“Even though the level of the Vaal Dam has increased, the Level 2 restrictions that Johannesburg Water has put in place to ensure that residents use water sparingly will not be lifted,” said Cllr Still.

He said the decision to lift the water restrictions would have to come from the Department of Water and Sanitation and not from the City.

“I believe that if we continue getting good rains, we should have the restrictions lifted in six months.”

He said the City had realised that Rand Water’s 15% cut in supply had come with a lot of pain for Johannesburg residents.

“I’d like to commend residents for doing their bit to save water. We started off with a saving of about 5%, but then went down to 1%. We’re now at 10%, so residents are indeed taking this matter seriously. We need to get to 15% and I think we will get there.”

The Department of Water and Sanitation said although 90% was the ideal level for dams, it would be delighted with at least 60% at the end of the rainy season as this would ensure water security for the country following the recent drought.

It said the Vaal Dam was showing a considerable increase in water levels, rising from 37.58% at the beginning of December 2016 to 49.56% on Monday.

“We believe that the Vaal Dam can exceed 60% by the time the rainy season ends,” said the department’s Sputnik Ratau.

Level 2 water restrictions, which have been in place since 15 November 2016, call on consumers not to water or irrigate their gardens between 6am and 6pm.

Only handheld hosepipes, buckets or watering cans are allowed outside these hours. Residents have been urged not to fill their swimming pools with municipal water and not to use hosepipes to wash their cars or clean paved areas and driveways with hosepipes.