Late yesterday afternoon, I was able to engage constructively with the CEO and Board Chairperson of Rand Water on the water supply challenges that are plaguing Tshwane.
Their water management teams and the technical teams from the City of Tshwane joined us in this discussion. Our focus was on the inability to get our high-lying water reservoirs to recover in areas such as Soshanguve, Mooikloof, Grootfontein and Laudium. These areas have been grappling with little to no water for over a week.
I welcomed the constructive commitment from Rand Water to ensure that our technical teams work together in order to better manage the water supply to these areas. Late in the evening we noted that these reservoirs began to recover due to increased water pressure.
One area in which we will engage Rand Water further is the water quota that is currently allocated to Tshwane. Out of the three metros in Gauteng, the City of Tshwane receives the least amount of bulk water, a matter which we intend to interrogate further particularly because Tshwane is the largest city in the province in terms of geographical size and has a significant manufacturing sector, which both drive water consumption.
Nonetheless, we are fully committed to working with Rand Water to better manage our water demand and consumption.
I want to thank Rand Water for responding so quickly to our request for an urgent engagement so that we could chart a way forward together.