The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) is working with the Gauteng provincial government to encourage municipalities across the province to ramp up water restrictions, with systems already under severe strain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Deputy President Paul Mashatile, the chairperson of the Cabinet’s “Water Task Team,” outlined this on 31 October when answering questions in the National Assembly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Municipalities across the province, such as the Cities of Johannesburg and Tshwane, are already implementing level 1 water restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The deputy president said that these should be higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“As the next step from the level 1\u00a0water\u00a0restrictions that are currently being implemented by municipalities, the DWS is working together with the Gauteng provincial government to encourage municipalities to put in place level 2 and level 3\u00a0water\u00a0restrictions and also to enforce them<\/strong>,\u201d said Mashatile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Level 2 water restrictions, which reduce water supply by 30%, include measures like banning the watering of gardens and cleaning of driveways with hosepipe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Level 3 water restrictions would see water supplies reduced further, with restrictions placed on how much water a person could use per day, while also cutting water-use activities even further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Water restrictions at these levels were widely implemented in Cape Town and areas in the Western Cape during the 2016 ‘day zero’ water crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We were warned<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The push for tighter water restrictions comes following a slew of warnings in the country’s richest province, which is home to over 16.1 million people and contributes over a third of the country’s GDP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In mid-October, Rand Water issued a warning over an impending water crisis, and took steps to prevent a total collapse of its networks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWater storage levels throughout Gauteng Province have significantly declined due to excessive water withdrawals by municipalities, raising serious concerns,\u201d said Rand Water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRand Water is left with no option but to take steps to protect its system from total collapse,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the utility, water supply systems in Gauteng, including Rand Water reservoirs, are critically low, and the situation is anticipated to worsen with the ongoing heat wave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The utility said it has repeatedly warned municipalities in Gauteng about this, but \u201cunfortunately, the crisis we sought to prevent has now materialised.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the end of September, Professor Anthony Turton from the Centre for Environmental Management at the University of Free State warned that the province is on the brink of a \u201cfull-blown Day Zero crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Turton explained that one of the main drivers on the demand side of the equation is the \u201cgeneral collapse of the water infrastructure in the various municipalities being supplied by Rand Water.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n