Dawid Kruiper municipality must urgently implement an operational plan to address water leaks and losses, and improve water management, before imposing undefined and open-ended water restrictions on Upington residents.
The DA voted against the water restrictions tabled in today’s Special Council meeting. This is not because we are opposed to water restrictions but rather the municipality’s attempt to lay the blame for the water shortages on residents, while not taking any initiative to address major municipal water failures.
Dawid Kruiper is currently losing approximately 50% of potable water due to leaks, in addition to its extremely low reservoir capacity from years of neglect and lack of maintenance. The municipality also adopted national water usage norms for locations with an average temperature of only 28 degrees Celsius. Given Dawid Kruiper’s semi-desert and extreme heat conditions, loss of water due to evaporation is much higher, and people and animals require much more water. We therefore do not agree that these norms are appropriate for the Upington area.
The DA today submitted a list of demands to council, that we firmly believe must be implemented alongside the imposing of water restrictions.
Our demands include the following:
1. Installation of water meters for everyone;
2. Replacement of broken water meters and re-connection of by-passed water meters;
3. The development of Standard Operating Procedures for the repair of broken pipes and leaks, including that workers should be on site within 30 minutes of the incident being reported;
4. The procurement of municipal water trucks, as previously budgeted for, to lower hiring costs and improve service delivery;
5. Altering the water usage norms to accommodate the prolonged high temperatures;
6. Implementation of measures to allow residents to keep their gardens alive, within reason, to still be able to market Upington as the “Green Kalahari”;
7. Restoration of pipelines from sewerage works to allow recycled water to be piped to cemeteries, school fields and parks, to preserve potable water.
The above measures place the onus of managing Dawid Kruiper’s limited clean water supply on the municipality, in contrast to making residents carry this burden alone. They will also go a long way in addressing the water crisis currently being experienced in Dawid Kruiper.
In addition to pushing for the above, the DA will embark on an intense oversight in the Upington area, to identify leaks and households in need of water meters.