SA 'sitting on a time bomb'

With Durban running the risk of water restrictions, Water Affairs Minister Buyelwa Sonjica says it is "totally unacceptable" that between 35 and 40 percent of piped water in big cities is being lost to theft or leaky pipes.

She told a provincial water indaba in Durban yesterday that, living in the 30th driest country in the world, South Africans could not afford to treat water as an afterthought in economic expansion projects.

Sonjica also expressed concern that the country was sitting on a "time bomb" because of the growing level of sewage contamination in rivers and poor waste-water treatment by many municipalities.

Provincial Premier Zweli Mkhize said outbreaks of waterborne diseases such as cholera could develop quickly if water supply was not managed properly.

Opening the two-day indaba, Sonjica said a study of use in the Durban-Pietermaritzburg area suggested water could be in short supply for the next two or three years until a new dam was built on the Mooi River.

Rapid economic development had led to stress on the Umgeni River dam network and this had been exacerbated by below-average rainfall in the past few years.

"Should a drought be experienced in the Umgeni River catchment over the next two years, shortages may occur," Sonjica said.

"Since unacceptably high levels of water losses and unaccounted for water are prevalent in the eThekweni Metropolitan area, new water conservation and demand measures, as well as the reuse of treated effluent, must be implemented by the metro and other municipalities as a matter of urgency."

Although the new Spring Grove Dam near Rosetta on the Mooi River was expected to be completed in 2012, it would be necessary to augment water supplies from elsewhere.

One possibility was to build a dam on the Umkhomazi River on the South Coast, another was to consider desalinating sea water.

Durban water and sanitation chief Neil Macleod said losses of piped water to theft, leaks or unmetered water were around 37 percent.

The city hoped to reduce this to around 33 percent by June.

Sonjica said ageing water infrastructure, which led to leaks, and illegal connections would have to be "tackled with courage".

Everyone wasted water. Some industries and farmers took it illegally. The problem of poor wastewater treatment was countrywide.

"One thing is whether municipalities are prepared to expend their municipal infrastructure grants on operations and maintenance. If we are not alive to this, we are sitting on a time bomb."