May 28, 2003
By Thomas Thale
THEY bring clean water to your tap and dispose of sewerage coming from your home.
These are the workers of Johannesburg Water, the largest City-owned company, which supplies water to business and residential areas in the city and treats waste-water from the sewer system.
The City of Johannesburg has now allocated R192-million to the company for the upgrade of water and sewerage infrastructure in the 2003/2004 financial year. Last year's capex funding amounted to R186-million.
Almost half of this year's capital expenditure will go towards special projects. These are projects designed to fast-track the provision of basic infrastructure in disadvantaged areas.
Johannesburg Water buys processed water from Rand Water and then distributes it to consumers across the city, pumping more than 1-billion litres of water per day.
The company's massive infrastructure includes 10 000km of water pipes and over 9 000km of underground sewer network pipes of differing sizes, 86 water reservoirs, four laboratories, 11 depots, six water treatment plants and 33 water towers that it maintains. The company makes a turnover of some R2-billion annually. The surplus goes to capital expenditure and to the council to cross-subsidise other companies, which don't generate profit, such as health, roads and parks. The company's workforce has increased from 2 400 in 2000 to 2 700.
Since it was established as an autonomous City-owned utility in 2000, Joburg Water has accelerated the process of installing new infrastructure and initiated community awareness programmes, including roadshows
Three projects to improve the sewer and water reticulations have been undertaken in Alexandra. A massive project to install meters, improve service and educate the public about water conservation has also been undertaken in Ivory Park.
As part of its efforts to improve customer service, the utility launched a web site last year. Residents can use the web site to log complaints, find information on water interruptions, and report problems to a 24-hour call centre.
Since Johannesburg Water was corporatised, there has been a streamlining of services and improved efficiency. "People work a lot faster and smarter," says Jameel Chand, spokesman of the company. "We now have a consolidation of resources, less wastage and less bureaucracy."
The main challenge facing the company is water that is unaccounted for. This refers to water that is lost because of leaking pipes or that is not properly billed. For the coming financial year, the City estimates that unaccounted water will cost the city about R6-million.
The bulk of these losses, says Chand, are caused by billing losses. "These include faulty meters, vandalism and illegal connections. Townships such as Soweto are still charged at a deemed or flat rate for water consumption. There are no meters; therefore individual consumption can't be measured."
Two years back, unaccounted water amounted to 42%. The figure has been slightly reduced to 37%. The company now aims to reduce unaccounted for water in a "measurable and sustainable way", says Chand.
The other challenge facing the company is the ongoing theft of water meters for sale to scrap metal dealers
Operationally, the company has cut its response time by 40%. "When we get reports of a water leak, it takes us an average of 20 minutes to get there," says Chand.
The company will, in the second half of this year, launch a five-year plan called "Operation Gcina'amanzi (Operation Conserve Water)," to improve infrastructure in Soweto. This comprehensive project is aimed at improving the delivery of water and sanitation services to townships around Soweto.
"We've received many complaints about low pressure. Some pipes and valves are very old. This is a historical problem. When the township was built, there was no real planning of the system. So when a pipe is burst, it's difficult for us to identify which areas are fed with which reservoir," says Chand.
