With dysfunctional sewage plants and failing water treatment plants such as Temba (above) South Africa has the perfect conditions for diseases such as cholera to thrive. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
For some, people dying of cholera in Hammanskraal was inconceivable. The fact that our water is so dirty that it made people sick to the point of death made people wince. But is it really a shock? Our water situation has been sauntering to a state of dilapidation for years.
Anecdotally, some family members are afraid to drink tap water and are resorting to boiling it. Despite reassurances from Rand Water, which supplies water to more than 17 million people in municipalities spanning Gauteng, parts of Mpumalanga, the Free State and North West, people are sceptical.
Hearing that traces of cholera have been detected in the Vaal River, which is the bulk supplier of water to Gauteng, makes you sit up in alarm. People in areas such as Hammanskraal and Vredefort, and who knows how many other places, are dealing with foetid water because of sewage leaks.
Last week, I asked if water was the next calamity in South Africa but I was wrong to ask. It has been a calamity for a while. In 2015, the Mail & Guardian ran a series looking into the water situation. It warned that the water systems needed fixing, there were a myriad issues that needed urgent attention. It’s time to be frank — we are living in a water crisis. The failure is not in the future, it is upon us, we are living it. We have come full circle. Our water system is in desperate need of fixing — infrastructure is decrepit, treatment plants are a horror show, load-shedding is affecting pumps and plants and supply is struggling to meet demand.
And there’s an El Nino not too far on the horizon. That means warmer, drier conditions.
Take a look at the series we ran below.
Here, Sarah Wild, Phillip de Wet and Sipho Kings take us through how “thanks to load-shedding and a shortage of water when electricity is restricted, the thirsty future could arrive in major urban centres as soon as this summer”.
The article draws on examples from several regions in the country which experienced water issues, explains how Eskom was a part of the problem and looks at the challenges people in informal settlements face.
This editorial explains how the water situation was similar to that at Eskom. Everything seemed to be running smoothly but the warning signs were there. Sewage was being pumped into the water people used. There were protests over water shortages. The writing was on the wall.
Our leaders dragged their heels with Eskom and electricity generation and, guess what, we have a massive shortage today. There’s a parallel here; there are more and more stories of people without water. Why was action not taken earlier? Experts and many in the water sector warned that there would be a shortage.
Around 2014, our politicians spoke with pride about how people had access to water. I wonder what they’d say now.
Sarah Wild and Sipho Kings wrote the following:
“The South African water crisis is a complex series of interlocking problems that preclude a silver-bullet solution. Each water system is unique, with different geographies, weather, populations and quirks, such as an unwillingness to reuse treated wastewater.”
This article, despite being seven years old, has some valuable possible solutions to fixing the water situation.