The City of Tshwane is once again facing significant challenges in providing essential water services to residents due to ongoing problems with Rand Water’s water supply, Themba Fosi, Tshwane’s mayoral committee member for utilities and regional operations, confirmed on Saturday.
“The lack of communication and transparency on Rand Water’s part about these issues only worsens the situation and has left residents right across the city in a state of uncertainty and frustration.
“I am well aware of the water challenges in certain parts of Pretoria East, including those supplied by the Carina and Mooikloof reservoirs.”
According to Fosi, this is mainly due to Rand Water’s inability to supply water to the city.
“We work tirelessly and continuously with Rand Water’s technical team, as well as our internal experts, to identify and implement solutions so that these issues are dealt with quickly.
“Our primary objective is to ensure that our reservoirs are sufficiently replenished so that residents can enjoy uninterrupted access to clean and safe water,” says Fosi.
Fosi argues that Rand Water indirectly, through a tweet, said that the City of Tshwane was exceeding its water consumption limits and that this was the root cause of the ongoing problems.
“We find this lack of direct communication on Rand Water’s part both worrying and unacceptable.
“It is essential for us to make it clear that the City of Tshwane has worked diligently to reduce water consumption and to bring us into line with Rand Water’s expectations.
“Any claim to the contrary is factually incorrect,” says Fosi.
Fosi believes Rand Water cannot blame the city for exceeding water consumption when the primary issue lies with their own technical deficiencies.
“We call on Rand Water to be forthright and identify and communicate to us the key causes of their supply interruptions.
“They must work with us to ensure stable and constant water supply to the city.
“We remain committed to finding solutions and working in close partnership with Rand Water to tackle these challenges.
“Water supply to our residents is our highest priority and we will continue to provide updates as the situation develops,” says Fosi.
Makenosi Maroo, Rand Water’s spokesperson, says Rand Water can confirm that it has received a complaint from the municipality about water supply affecting the Akasia meter.
“We have already addressed that. Rand Water appointed a technical team on Friday to investigate the complaint after which it was determined that the pressure was normal and the flow sufficient,” says Maroo.
“It makes sense to mention that the City of Tshwane’s water consumption has increased significantly, and that Rand Water has advised the municipality to bring the consumption patterns in line with our requirements.
“As Rand Water, we are committed to providing high quality water and ensuring continued partnerships with all our customers,” says Maroo.
“Rand Water requests all consumers to continue to use water sparingly to prevent the exhaustion of systems as we are now starting to experience warm temperatures again.”
