Hammanskraal promised clean water as stakeholders tackle water woes

Share this article: Share Tweet Share Share Share Email Share

Pretoria - The City of Tshwane has been asked to rope in Rand Water to assist with the alleviation of water woes in Hammanskraal by providing people with drinkable water. The request was made by the Department of Water and Sanitation, according to its provincial manager Sibusiso Mthembu. He said Rand Water has a water pipeline constructed 20km from the area, which could be used to supply clean water to residents. Mthembu said the proposal was made to the municipality as one of the short-term solutions to the address water challenges in the area. He was speaking to the Pretoria News on Thursday during a visit by members of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) at the Temba Water Treatment Plant.

He said the other option to the City was to bring on board the Magalies Water to share its expertise on how to provide clean water in the people.

"They can (also) use the entity of state which is Erwat (Ekurhuleni Water Care Company) to deal with problem in Rooiwal Waste Water Treatment Plant. The city needs to take a decision," Mthembu said.

The poor quality effluent flowing from Rooiwal into the Apies River, which feeds into the Leeukraal Dam, has been identified as the cause of the problem for water supplied to Hammanskraal residents. The dam was responsible for supplying water to the township residents.

Mthembu said: "There is also a little bit of funding that the department has made available to Tshwane for urban settlement development, which the department said it can be reprioritised to sort our water problem. It is about R1.3 billion."

He said the department didn't have problems with the Temba plant except that it was treating water of poor quality from Rooiwal.

Utility Services MMC Abel Tau said the City has done its part by acknowledging the water problems faced by residents.

He said the acknowledgement led to it forging collaboration with other stakeholders such as the Department of Water and Sanitation, Magalies Water and Rand Water.

He also expressed satisfaction with a political will from all sphere of government to address the problem.

"We don't even hear people say let's go to court because that happens when we don't partner. I am hopeful. Given that we don't want to contradict ourselves we will continue to supply water in tankers to residents. We will continue to source more water from Magalies,"he said.

Head of NCOP Amos Masondo said he was happy that the situation has improved. "The sense we are getting is that this is work in progress. We were not where we were a few weeks ago, but obviously more work still need to be done," he said.

He said members of the NCOP would come back within a period of a year to double-check whether things were still on track.

He stressed that he didn't want to apportion blame to anyone. "We need to work together and work in a way that will ensure meaningful progress. I am optimistic that we will overcome these challenges," Masondo said.

Pretoria News