A successful project has brought water to
a relatively poor township community
Ngwako Modjadji
When Christina Kekana (29) moved from her parents’ home in Tembisa to Ivory Park in 1990 it was a relief for the mother of two to move into her own house.
The site allocated to her was a piece of unserviced land where she had to erect a makeshift structure. Her access to clean water depended on deliveries from municipal trucks once or twice a week and sanitation was still a pipe dream for many of her fellow residents, as pit toilets were the norm.
It took another seven years for Kekana to be allocated a low-cost, two-roomed house, followed by five years of waiting for the completion of basic infrastructure for the township, which paved the way for the installation of taps and sanitation for every household.
Today Kekana draws water from a tap outside the house a by-product of the Mati Irihanyu water project.
“The project changed the life of many people in the township because they can support their families. I can now do the odd things like washing clothes, bathing children and cooking because there is a communal tap in the yard,” says Kekana, whose water consumption bill is about R17 a month.
The project was allocated R2,2-million by Johannesburg Water (the council’s water and sanitation company) and R8-million from the Consolidated Municipal Infrastructure Programme. Water Supply Strategies has been appointed to manage the project.
The project’s conception dates back to the days of the former Midrand Metropolitan Local Council in 2000. The installation of household water taps began in April that year and is expected to be completed in August.
Water consumption in Ivory Park is approximately 12-million litres a day and it costs the Johannesburg Council R13-million a year to provide water to the township, including expenses related to maintenance of infrastructure. The project relies on a buy-in from the community to take ownership of their infrastructure and to pay for services rendered.
Mati Irihanyu employs 40 residents, mostly women, as labourers and plumbers.
Project manager Dumisane Magadlela says the idea of employing women stems from the contractor’s belief that women are the most vulnerable population group in most communities. “Women tend to get the least number of opportunities in any development project coming from outside.”
Mati Irihanyu is backed up by a campaign to raise community awareness about water conservation and the responsibilities of all parties towards its success.
Molly Nkoane, the project’s community liaison officer, says it has improved living conditions in the township. “The project is going from strength to strength as there is full participation from members of the community. The project is aimed at eradicating poverty and improving water-service provision,” Nkoane says.
The project’s main aims include installing conventional water meters, educating the general public on water conservation and water costs, improving services and financial administration (such as updating the residents’ database), and motivating people to pay for services.
This is one of the first projects in South Africa to apply the tenets of efficient, affordable and sustainable water use, as stipulated by the National Water Act (1998), to improve water-service provision and management at a local level, and in a relatively poor township community.
The project will also ensure that water installations at all stands in Ivory Park are inspected. Essentially, this audit means that more than 15 000 stands will be checked: pipes, toilets, outside and in-house water taps and bathrooms are checked and fixed free of charge by the munici- pality on a once-off basis. This is a sign of the municipality’s commitment to improving services in the township, and is an encouragement to the community to play its part by paying for services rendered.
With this process under way, Water Supply Strategies has begun installing conventional water meters at stands in Ivory Park. This will help in the monitoring of the provision of the 6 000 litres of free water that the government introduced in July last year.
The daily implementation process is such that community liaison officers move ahead of the plumbing and inspection team and hold street committee meetings to inform people about the existence of the project, its aims and objectives and to answer any questions that people may have about it. The officers also alert the community of impending visits to their homes by plumbing inspectors who check water pipes for leaks and damage, and then fix them.