•
The closure of the irrigation canals in winter for
cleaning and maintenance added to the ongoing
problems the community faced.
Monthly Never
Vukani
Household
category
RDP
Experienced a water
outage recently
96%
Duration of out-
age (average)
5 days
Store water for use
in emergency
97%
Most suitable emergency water storage identified:
Street tank (5 000ℓ)
26.51%
Personal water barrel (blue 250ℓ) 71.08%
None of the above
2.41%
This resulted in more residents showing the willingness to
contribute financially to a meaningful water storage solution:
Yes
No
91.04%
8.96%
Understandably, this solution will not be suitable in areas
where there is no supply, but there are many areas with
some provision of piped water that is simply unreliable.
Looking at a more long-term and sustainable solution,
I strongly suggest that every household installs water
Dr Tally Palmer.
storage tanks as soon as possible. Household water
tanks, with proper use, is a safe and healthy way
to use water in our homes. This needs to happen
together with public-private partnerships, local
private enterprises, water tank suppliers, and local
entrepreneurs who can secure, keep stocks of as
well as sell and deliver tanks. Working together with
municipalities will ensure every household in the
affected areas has a secure water supply.
Unilever is leading the charge and piloting such
partnerships. But the success of this will be in the
collective action of us all. Unilever is currently seeking
other partners to ignite its solution: Water fo r People.
While the company works hard to bring on partners,
they too share regular information about how to save
water and understanding where leaks come from and
how to fix them, ultimately encouraging the public to
become People for Water. u
Understandably, it would be naive to imagine that the
multiple challenges facing small municipalities will be solved
quickly. Solutions need to be actioned and actioned quickly.
Even after it was clearly noted that the irrigation organisers
in the water user association needed to have a service level
agreement with the municipality in place, this failed to be
drafted and signed.
A big part of ensuring that accurate data is recorded
to fully understand the challenges at hand for the right
decisions to be made and implemented, constitutes that
research funding and activities need to continue.
So, what do we do going forward?
We need to maintain open dialogue with communities
to ensure that the solutions really do solve their challenges
and concerns. For example, in the Vukani suburb in the
Makana Local Municipality, Eastern Cape, local residents
partnered with Rhodes University to document water supply
experiences. They were also included in outlining preferred
solutions. It then became apparent that the community
wanted 250ℓ water storage capacity (water tanks) in their
homes, where they can control access and quality. They fill
the tanks when there is water in the taps, and this capacity
can see them through any water interruptions.
Overview of Vukani water shortages:
0%
0%
0%
0%
3%
0%
0%
1%
Nomathamsanqa water shortages (N=90)
Household
Daily One to three Four to six
categories
times a week times a week
RDP
7%
73%
13%
Formal township 10% 77%
13%
Informal
3%
77%
20%
All - categories 7%
76%
15%
(mean %)
When examining the numbers in the local residential area of
Nomathamsanqa, the community experienced serious water
supply interruption:
The success of this
will be in the collective
action of us all.
Water Sewage & Effluent May/June 2017
23