Pretoria - The City of Tshwane’s budget of R75 million, allocated to address water leaks and replace ageing water network pipes, will go a long way towards alleviating the water supply problems affecting residents.
This is according to MMC for Utilities and Regional Operations, Daryl Johnston, who said prioritising critical infrastructure maintenance in Tshwane would reduce water leaks, especially with stage 2 water restrictions still in force.
“Over the past month, the City of Tshwane and all of Gauteng province has been battling with stage 2 water restrictions implemented by Rand Water to ensure that water supply across the province does not run out,” he said.
He reiterated a call for residents to continue conserving water to enable Rand Water to return its reservoirs to targeted levels of 60% “which had dropped due to technical issues on their network, coupled with the recent hot weather”.
“While saving water remains critically important, the City notes that we have a responsibility to ensure that we maintain our water infrastructure to reduce water leakages.
“Maintenance and refurbishment of critical infrastructure is one of our coalition government’s key priorities, as outlined in our Top 10 strategic focus areas to develop the city and fast-track service delivery,” Johnston said.
In the current 2022/23 financial year, the City allocated R75m for the replacement of worn-out water network pipelines.
“Through this budget we have an estimated target to replace 18 420 metres of pipe across a series of projects,” he said.
Areas being worked on include Pretoria North and Dorandia, Mamelodi, Eersterust, Greater Sinoville area, Constantia Park and Moreletapark, Riamarpark and Clubview.
“We have also initiated additional scouting and leak-detection activities with pilot projects, working with new technology to find leaks before they are visible above ground.
“These are then prioritised within our budget to limit the technical water losses we are experiencing,” Johnston said.
Pretoria News