Level 2 and 3 water restriction warning for Joburg as crisis deepens
South Africa’s business capital is considering tighter water curbs as it battles to maintain ageing infrastructure and cope with increased demand.
The city of Johannesburg currently has level 1 restrictions in place, which prohibit consumers from irrigating their gardens and using municipal water to clean paved areas at their residences between 06h00 and 18h00.
Those measures are “not entirely effective,” Johannesburg Water Operations Manager Logan Munsamy said in remarks aired by broadcaster Newzroom Afrika.
“We are looking at increasing that level of restriction, possibly to level 2 or higher.”
Level 2 water restrictions prohibit using municipal water to irrigate gardens and top up swimming pools and ban using hosepipes to wash vehicles and clean pavements.
Level 3 water restrictions would reduce water supplies further, with restrictions on how much water a person could use per day and further reductions in water-use activities.
Water restrictions at these levels were widely implemented in Cape Town and areas in the Western Cape during the 2016 ‘day zero’ water crisis.
South Africa’s government is grappling with a worsening water crisis mainly caused by decades of underinvestment and poor maintenance.
Rand Water, Africa’s biggest bulk-water supplier, warned in October that Gauteng province — the nation’s commercial hub that includes Johannesburg and the capital, Pretoria — may run out of water unless the cities didn’t immediately curb consumption.
Residents in the western Johannesburg suburb of Westbury clashed with police on Wednesday over a water outage, while the Democratic Alliance party issued a memorandum to Executive Mayor Dada Morero stating that some households haven’t had supply for 70 days.
South Africa’s central bank said crumbling water, transport and other infrastructure poses a significant threat to the country’s financial system.
The collapse in water infrastructure is intensifying just as South Africa recovers from a yearslong energy crisis, in which the state power utility implemented electricity outages across the country for as long as 12 hours a day.
Crisis
Social unrest is already brewing the city due to the collapse of water infrastructure and failure by the city to resolve the issues.
Residents clashed with police during a protest about a lack of water supply in areas west of the city centre this week.
People blocked vehicle traffic with burning tyres and fought police at a key intersection in the suburb of Westbury on Wednesday (27 November).
Separately, members of the Democratic Alliance, an opposition party in the city, handed over a memorandum of issues to Executive Mayor Dada Morero about the ongoing water outages.
The party noted that some residents haven’t had a supply for 70 days.
The party called on the leader to dissolve the board of Johannesburg Water, the utility that distributes in the region.
Additional reporting from Bloomberg
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