WaterCAN warns of fragility of COJ’s water systems

Water activism organisation, WaterCAN says that the recent water crisis in Johannesburg is an indication of the fragility of the City’s water systems.

This was in reaction to the past two weeks in which residents across the City faced severe water shortages, with inadequate communication from Joburg City and the water utilities.

WaterCAN CEO Dr Ferrial Adam attributed the crisis to mismanagement and a complete lack of leadership from City officials,

“From Rand Water they’re saying it was a scheduled maintenance on the one hand and then there was the power cut. So, Rand Water is saying that they followed through and they did the maintenance in the time that was suggested and then there was no control over what happened after.

Well, in a normal situation, if you have power cuts you would have reservoirs that have storage that can then actually buffer the impact on people. So, you won’t have large numbers of people and communities that actually have no water, which is what happened. But the reality is, how can you have such a big city running, when half of our reservoirs actually have leaks in them?”