Whopping R33 million for water security project launched in Tshwane

A whopping R33?million is to be injected into a water security project launched in the City of Tshwane this week. The three-year project, a collaboration between Tshwane and the Danish city of Aarhus, is aimed at helping to improve the metro’s capacity to manage its water resources.

Part of the deal would afford Tshwane a chance to learn from its counterpart metropolitan city about water resource security and management. The project, it was said, could potentially assist in addressing water challenges in areas such as Hammanskraal and other parts of the metro.

Mayor Cilliers Brink said: “We know we face many water challenges in Tshwane, such as in Hammanskraal and other parts of Tshwane. Therefore, it is important that we work with other world-class cities and learn from them so that we can build a capital city that works for all its people.”

For years, the City has been under fire for a lack of urgency in addressing the problem of dirty water from the Rooiwal wastewater treatment plant, which is supplied to the Hammanskraal residents and local farmers. The plant has been identified as the source of dirty water because of its lack of capacity to purify wastewater, resulting in the sludge being discharged into the Apies River.

Recently, the Pretoria News reported about the recurring water shortages affecting residents in Skierlik, near Mamelodi. Residents were concerned that a power supply failure that affected Rand Water had contributed to their lack of water recently. Their biggest worry was that water tankers were not distributing sufficient water to all residents.

They said water tankers distributed water only three times a week – on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. They appealed to the municipality to consider providing water to them on a daily basis and and to install more JoJo tanks. Yesterday, the City reported that the main feeder pipe of the Laudium reservoir had been damaged by the contractor responsible for upgrading work at the facility.

As a result, the City warned residents in Laudium, Claudius and Christoburg that they would be affected by water interruption for a day. “The operational team cannot isolate the pipe at the reservoir because of technical challenges. This means that the reservoir needs to drain completely before we can begin the repair of the reservoir,” the City said.

Brink said maintaining water infrastructure was “one of my top priorities, and we must humble ourselves to accept help and guidance from others so that Tshwane can become water- resilient.” The Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has allocated R33m to the water security project, and the amount would go towards funding different study models and concepts that seek to enhance Tshwane’s water security.

During the project launch at the University of Pretoria Future Africa campus, Brink said it would run from April 1, 2023 until March 31, 2026. He hailed the partnership between Tshwane and the city of Aarhus and the Danish Embassy, saying it was a window of opportunity for the metro to learn best practices in water security and management from the Danish government.

“The two cities have agreed to collaborate on water management projects, such as reducing non-revenue water losses, conducting active leak detection, prioritising pipe replacement, focusing on own water generation and managing waste water effectively,” Brink said.