Residents of Johannesburg, Africa’s richest city, are facing severe water shortages during a summer heatwave.
The shortage, which lasted for nearly two weeks, affected about 50 per cent of Johannesburg Water’s water supply areas, officials said. This South African city has a population of nearly 6 million people.
Businesses were hit hard and many hospitals were affected. Nurses at one medical center told local media they were unable to wash their hands.
Mlimandlela Ndamase, spokesman for the Johannesburg mayor, explained that the initial problem arose on March 3 when a main pumping station lost power due to a lightning strike.
This is not the first time the city has been without water. Last year, the city experienced frequent shortages.
Ndamas acknowledged that Johannesburg’s water system is also plagued by other long-term problems.
“The city does acknowledge that there are challenges with aging infrastructure, infrastructure maintenance and the need to roll out new infrastructure across the city,” he said.
But many accused the authorities of being incompetent, and some small protest rallies took place.
On Wednesday, Johannesburg Water spokesman Nombuso Shabalala acknowledged there was also human error.
“The technical team found that bulk supplier valves were closed, limiting supply to the system,” Shabalala said. “The valves were opened, which helped build some capacity.”
Anja du Plessis, an associate professor at the University of South Africa and an expert on water issues, said “incompetence, lack of transparency and accountability, and almost no political will” had exacerbated the crisis.
“The rapid escalation of the water crisis in the city of Johannesburg… can be attributed to the dysfunction and incompetence of the municipality, the lack of necessary technical personnel, the lack of financial resources and even the failure to invest in maintaining dilapidated water infrastructure,” Du Plessis explain.
The water problem coincides with problems with the country’s electricity supply.
South Africa has been mired in an energy crisis for more than a decade, which has intensified over the past year, with the country experiencing almost daily scheduled blackouts, sometimes lasting up to 10 hours a day.
Waterwheels have been set up all over the city.
Johannesburg Water said most of its systems have now been restored.
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