Public assured that the country will not run out of water

Water and Sanitation Deputy Minister David Mahlobo has assured the public that the country will not run out of water. He says there are plans to build more dams. Ageing infrastructure and leaking pipes have been highlighted as contributing to the water challenges in the country.

Mahlobo was addressing delegates at the Next Generation Water Efficient Sanitation Technologies Investment Summit in Johannesburg on Tuesday.

Mahlobo says as much as there are water challenges in some provinces, including in Gauteng, the country’s taps will not run dry by 2030.

“As a country we will not at all run out of water by the year 2030. There is a lot of work that we are actually doing to ensure that we build more dams and more infrastructure projects so that at least we are able to catch water when there is enough rain because we all know that climate change is a contributing factor to challenges, we are facing,”

Mahlobo says a lot of water is lost, especially at municipal level.

“We are losing so much water. The water that we are losing ranges between 30 and 45 percent which is not supposed to happen. We don’t have a water supply issue, but we have water reticulation issue where the management of water reticulation systems by local government municipalities has not been taken care of effectively as it should have been.”

The Water Research Commission, an entity of the Department of Water and Sanitation, says population growth and the mushrooming of informal settlements pose a serious challenge.

“Our infrastructure has not been upgraded to cater for the population growth, a high number of informal settlements that are developing rapidly everywhere. That is a challenge. The demand is huge, and it is growing,” says Dr Jennifer Molwantwa, Water Research Commission CEO.

People are urged to report leaking pipes to avoid water being wasted.