▶️ the post Joburg’s Water Crisis Getting Severe! appeared first on ©️ Karibu – A Working Class News.
By Yonela Gebengu and Karibu Staff
Residents of Johannesburg are struggling with ongoing water supply issues. This community is experiencing “throttling water” supply.
Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) Minister Penny Majodina announced that Johannesburg’s water would be restricted from 14 November 2024, until further notice.
The minister says the restriction of water in 11 municipalities in Gauteng is caused by neglect of infrastructure, illegal water connections, and frequent pipe leaks.
Johannesburg community members say that Joburg Water and DWS should prioritise addressing the water issues before implementing drastic measures.
An after-care teacher from Zenith Pre-School in Pritchard said the centre is affected by the disrupted supply. She says they must let the children go home early because they can’t use the toilets. For them, water is needed to maintain hygiene in the classrooms. The principal of the day care centre said they had to tell parents to bring water in the morning as their children will need it during outages.
Eritha from Bubbles laundry on Mooi Street said, they forced to close when there’s a disruption in water supply. She said the laundry business is new.
Eritha says they don’t have the capacity to reserve tanks to keep their laundries business running, but it’s something they are considering for the future.
Johannesburg Central residents said they have been without water for up three months at times. This would be exacerbated by electricity outages. It becomes hard for them to even carry buckets of water and use the stairs all the way to the upper floors.
“I don’t even trust if the water is clean when its back, because it’s been gone for too long and that also bring questions, how clean is the water?”
The water crisis in Gauteng has reached an extreme point. As the communities struggle to cope, they demand meaningful solutions.
This article was submitted on 20 November 2024. You may republish this article, so long as you credit the authors and Karibu! Online (www.Karibu.org.za), and do not change the text. Please include a link back to the original article.
