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The Ministry of Water and Sanitation, City of Tshwane (CoT) and Rand Water met on Sunday, 03 September 2023, to find a common solution to the current water challenges affecting the city.

Minister Senzo Mchunu together with Deputy Ministers, David Mahlobo and Judith Tshabalala earlier in the day convened an urgent meeting with Rand Water and City of Tshwane to intervene on public exchange between the Water Utility and City as a result of water shortages in some parts of Tshwane.

The Minister then directed Deputy Minister Mahlobo, City of Tshwane Executive Mayor, Cllr Cilliers Brink, Chairperson of Rand Water Board, Mr Ramateu Monyokolo to assemble a technical team led by the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) Provincial Head Mr Justice Maluleke, the water utility Chief Executive, Mr Sipho Mosai and the city’s Group Head for Water and Sanitation, Mr Stephens Notoane to converge and derive a concrete plan to address the current water challenges and report back before end of the day.

Subsequently, Deputy Minister Mahlobo, Cllr Cilliers Brink, Mr Monyokolo, met with the task team later in the afternoon to receive feedback on the action plan to implemented in order to resolve the issues that led to an impasse between the city and the water utility and ensure consistent supply of water to residents.

Rand Water and the City would like to apologise to the residents for the water supply uncertainty and assures residents that the two institutions are committed to working collaboratively to ensure these challenges affecting the city are resolved.

The city also confirms that water have now been restored in areas which were affected by shortages in the recent days, including Mooikloof, Waterkloof Ridge, Akasia and Mabopane.

As part of the resolutions of the meeting, a technical team comprising of the DWS, Rand Water and the City will meet regularly during the peak season, to engage and provide wholistic coordination, provision and management of water supply systems between the Rand Water and CoT.

The task team will on daily basis share the state of their water supply systems; immediately deal with water supply challenges in the city; collaborate on water conservation campaigns and mobilise communities to save water, including imposing water restrictions where necessary; and lastly, strengthen communication with all stakeholders and members of the public in order to serve residents better and efficiently.

In order to address the acute shortage of water in the system, Rand Water and the City of Tshwane are currently engaging on the technical review of historical water allocations to the City as well as looking at water conservation and demand management. The municipal affordability will also be looked at when considering additional water allocation to the city to ensure that the municipality service its residents better and sustainably.

The Department, Rand Water and the City of Tshwane would like to call on residents to conserve water and avoid using potable water for uses that would have ordinarily been taken care of by rains, such as watering gardens, use of hosepipes to clean driveways and car wash etc. Residents are further encouraged to fix water leaks in their homes and report those in their reticulation system to the municipality.

Issued by the Department of Water & Sanitation