Launch of Crown Gardens water tower

This speech was delivered by MMC Tania Oldjohn at the launch of Crown Gardens water tower:

Programme Director; MD and Management Councillors, members of the media and ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. 

Water security and water supply are among the greatest challenges we face today,  and the situation has never looked more perilous. In the past couple of months we  experienced power supply disruptions, aged infrastructure challenges and below-the-normal flow of water from our bulk water supplier in some parts of the City, impacting negatively on our supply capability, thus forcing our residents to endure intermittent  water supply interruptions for several days and some weeks. 

Ladies and gentlemen, water scarcity is a challenge facing many parts of the world,  and South Africa is a water-stressed country, making this challenge a local  phenomenon. It is an imbalance between growing competing water demands, and  increasingly erratic availability of sufficient quality freshwater.  

The City of Johannesburg implemented water restrictions as a directive from our bulk  supplier; these restrictions impact a number of issues including growing pressures  from agriculture, energy production, industries and hygiene. All of these are impacting our water resources and the City is always striving to ensure delivery of quality  uninterrupted water services to minimise frustration and inconvenience to the  residents of the City.  

However, these efforts will fall short unless we resolve the question of access to  finance for water infrastructure. We need to propel the process of closing the gap of  the current backlog of upgrading and constructing water infrastructure to be able  to meet the water demands of the growing population of the City. Having said that, it is also imperative that the residents work alongside the City by keeping water  conservation on top of mind as well as safeguarding the city’s infrastructure. This can  be achieved by decreasing the daily water usage of each household, eradicating illegal  water connections and logging service delivery calls on time.

Ladies and gentlemen, The Crown Gardens complex previously consisted of just a  22.4-megalitre concrete reservoir, as well as a 1.1-megalitre concrete water tower.  It was commissioned in the 1950s and for the past 50 years this complex has been adequately feeding areas such as Southdale, Mondeor, Ormonde, Robertsham  and surrounding areas.

Johannesburg Water started the construction of an additional 2-megalitre elevated  tower in 2019 to assist with the demand of the growing population when the storage capacity of the existing tower became inadequate for the demand, which saw an  increase in water shortages in the area due to demand exceeding supply. The project  was planned to be completed in August of 2020, but due to challenges such as work  stoppages by the local community, excessive rainfall as well as the Covid-19  pandemic, the project was only completed in October 2021 at a cost of a little over  R56-million. This amount encompasses skills transfer, labour, operational costs as  well as jobs created during the construction of the tower.

In order to supply water to the combined elevated storage capacity, the pump station  and pumps also needed to be increased. A new pump station is part of the plan to  increase capacity in the Crown Gardens complex. The new pump station is designed  to be equipped with three pumps, each delivering 153l/s at a height of 35m. The design further allows two pumps to deliver the expected peak consumption of 306l/s, with the  third pump on standby. The pump station is designed to house the fourth pump in  future, should the need arise to increase the pumping capacity.

During the construction process, eight  SMMEs were appointed for the project. The  appointment of the contractor was on condition that 20% of the construction activities were subcontracted to the local community, with particular emphasis on skills transfer. This resulted in 31 local labourers’ opportunities, of which 28 went to development of local  female labourers.  

This new tower will mean that Johannesburg Water yet again delivers on its promise  of delivering quality and constant service to the residents of the City of Johannesburg. 

In conclusion, ladies and gentlemen, an investment in infrastructure is an investment  in the future of the City of Johannesburg and the sustainability of water supply.

For more information, visit: www.johannesburgwater.co.za