Supplying an essential resource

Although situated along some of South Africa’s major water sources, like the rest of the country, the Vaal region faces familiar water-scarcity challenges. Sustainable and integrated solutions that ensure water provision and dignified sanitation need to define future plans.

MIDVAAL

Across Midvaal, approximately 38 046 households are provided with potable water from the two bulk potable water purification works, namely Vaal Marina Water Purification Works owned by Midvaal Local Municipality and Zuikerbosch Water Purification Plant owned by Rand Water.

Raw water is extracted from the Vaal Dam and Vaal River respectively and pumped into the two works. Raw water is treated, purified and disinfected to comply with the SANS 0241 standard for water fit for human consumption

Midvaal has contracted Rand Water to operate the Vaal Marina Purification Works on its behalf, with clear deliverables as per the service level agreement. The Vaal Marina Water Purification Works has a design capacity of 10 Mℓ/day and is currently operating well within its design capacity, while the Rand Water Zuikerbosch Plant delivers an average of 30 Mℓ/day. A total of 42 metered connection points are available to measure the water that is pumped from Rand Water into the Midvaal Supply System.

Household supply

All households within developed urban and peri-urban areas are supplied through a water meter, which is used to determine the quantity of water consumed by the particular household. Informal settlements that are not reticulated receive water through the mobile water tankers and public stand pipes. Plastic tanks, positioned around the settlements, are used as a storage point for the informal settlements communities to fetch water.

Bigger informal settlements’ storage tanks and stand pipes are supplied through direct metered water pipelines, connected to the water network. Mobile water tanker filling points are metered to enable accountability of water delivered to informal settlements.

The average potable water quality compliance is 99% in terms of SANS 0241 and Midvaal’s Blue Drop status stands at 94%.

Revenue protection and water conservation

Revenue protection is assisted by attending to water leaks and the maintenance of reservoirs and pressure reducing valves (PRVs), which further prevents water losses. Troubleshooting water meters is another important aspect. The council’s approved Five-year Water Demand Management Plan is also being implemented and monitored, taking into account the following interventions: • indigent household water leak repairs • pipe replacement programmes • replacement and refurbishment of PRVs • bulk and residential water meter installation and replacement.

Sanitation

There are 23 550 households with flush toilets connected to a waterborne sewerage system. Wastewater is collected from households connected to the system through the reticulation pipelines into different smaller sewer pump stations around Midvaal.

There are 10 385 households with flushing toilets that are connected to septic tanks and biochemical package treatment plants. These tanks are the property of individual households, which are responsible for their operation and maintenance, and are mainly found in areas where there is no municipal sewer reticulation.

There are 2 044 households in Sicelo Ext 4 & 5 that are provided with potable chemical toilets supplied and maintained by Sedibeng District Municipality. A total of 2 025 households are provided with VIP toilets, which are typically found in areas where there is neither a sewerage system nor enough water to transport the waste. Midvaal maintains these toilets quarterly.

Midvaal’s sewer system consists of 316 km of network pipes and just over 5 007 manholes. Pipe sizes range from 90 mm to 500 mm in diameter, with 29 sewer pumps. The majority of pipes are gravity pipes, with about 19 km of rising mains.

LESEDI

Alongside growing populations across the country, water demand is increasing every year. In terms of water provision, Lesedi Local Municipality is making solid progress. Water provision in the municipality is around 92.1%, with 52.3% access inside the dwelling and 39.8% inside the stand.

Considering the nature and extent of capital required, it is inevitable that some of the required water infrastructure developments will have to be done with loan funding and that most of the related economic developments should be co-funded by developers. The biggest concern is that Lesedi Local Municipality currently lacks the necessary revenue streams to co-fund its obligations, which means improved financial management in the municipality is thus key to the successful implementation of the investment framework.

Access to water and sanitation

In South Africa’s arid climate, water losses are a major concern. Non-revenue water in the Gauteng province increased from 21.8% in 2005 to 35.9% in 2010. In Lesedi, however, nonrevenue water was significantly lower than the Gauteng average and declined over the same period to 23%.

Access to water in Lesedi is higher than the Gauteng average of 95.4% and Sedibeng average of 96.7%, and currently measures at around 97.4%.

In Lesedi, the percentage of households with hygienic toilets was 89.1% in 2011. This is an improvement from a rate of 67.2%, which was recorded in 1996.

The current sanitation backlog in absolute terms in the municipality amounts to approximately 4 000 households – or 12.8% of all households. In comparison to the Gauteng province and Sedibeng District Municipality, Lesedi remains well positioned in the provisioning of proper sanitation.

Challenges

In the economically constrained situation the country faces, there are of course numerous hurdles and challenges in supplying adequate water and sanitation. This of course presents opportunities for the private sector to engage with government in improving the rate of access through infrastructure maintenance and development.

One of the major challenges is the municipality’s ageing water supply infrastructure. This is exacerbated by limited capital investment to address infrastructure upgrades. Crime also affects the situation, through the vandalism of water infrastructure by members of the community, as well as the theft of water supply components (such as cast-iron valve boxes, copper valves and electrical supply cables to pump stations) and the theft of water through by-passing of water meters – which has a strong negative impact on municipal revenue collection.

Water wastage by members of the communities (excessive irrigation and communal taps left running in informal settlements) is another challenge as is the growth of the population, as mentioned previously.

Pressure is placed on the infrastructure due to migration from rural to urban areas, and there is an influx of people into the municipal area due to soft borders. The mushrooming of informal settlements is a challenge across the