Question NW432 to the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs

Reply:

Makana Local Municipality, which forms part of the Sarah Baartman District Municipality in the Eastern Cape Province governs the town of (Makhanda) as well as the towns and villages of Alicedale, Seven Fountains, Riebeeck East and Fort Brown. The Municipality has been slacking in the provision of basic service for several years, and this has been aggravated by persistent drought conditions that has been prevalent for over five years to date. The drought is by far the worst droughts in history, resulting in very low dam levels which led to the town experiencing various water crisis.

There have been several challenges pertaining to service delivery in Makhanda especially the provision of clean water to the residents, however the municipality has several projects in place that seek to address these challenges. It must be noted that for the provision of "clean water" by Makhanda; a number of matters have to be addressed through interventions. There was the identification of the problems’ source first, then interventions were / are being implemented to address the problems, and that is addressing the matter of ensuring the provision of clean water.

This response highlights the interventions that the Municipality undertook, and or is undertaking to provide clean water; the interventions therefore translate to the projects that are aimed at addressing:

• Aging Infrastructure issues (leakages, overflows from reservoirs. etc, to avoid wastage and ensure that the clean water supply demand is met).
• The capacity of the existing infrastructure issues (the need to meet existing and future demand).
• The issue of the sufficiency of the available clean water supply (balancing demand versus supply).
• The need to identify and provide future potential water sources (to augment clean water supply for future growing demand).

The interventions listed below highlight the projects that were implemented over the years to ensure consistent water supply to Makhanda residents, as well as ensuring that the current and future resources and infrastructure support the goal of supplying clean water to the Makhanda communities.

1. WORK DONE TO GUARANTEE ACCESS TO CLEAN WATER.

The Municipality is in the process of responding to the water infrastructure challenges and therefore the development of a comprehensive Infrastructure Asset Management Plan has already commenced. Projects that will ensure increased water supply capacity to meet the demand have also commenced, as well as the development of a comprehensive Water Conservation and Water Demand Management Strategy.

​1.1 Water Conservation Demand Management Projects:

• • 1. Makana embarked on a water loss management study (meter audit and pressure control study), which has identified problem areas and solutions. The solutions include prioritization of new meters, replacement of old meters and billing system database cleansing.
    2. Water Conservation & Demand Management projects resulting in meter replacement; repairs to leaks; refurbishment of pumps; management of water supply.
    3. Capital funding was secured from the Department of Water Affairs for the bulk water supply (James Kleynhans) amounting to R150 million. The project is being implemented by Amatola Water Board and there is satisfactory progress on site. Upon completion, the project will increase James Kleynhans Water Treatment works capacity from 10ML to 20ML/day. A tender was awarded in December 2020 for the supply of 2 electric motors. The electric motors were delivered on the 25th of February 2021; and that boosted the number of standby motors at the JKWTW.
    4. The reservoir and water pipeline for ward 12 (Rhodes University and Monument) was constructed at a cost of R4.7 million;

The projects in the table below are currently at different stages of implementation:

Name of the project	Amount	% complete
Refurbishment of Riebeek East WTW	6 955 044	100%
Refurbishment of Jameson and Milner Dam	10 000 000	100%
Refurbishment of Alicedale WTW	10 147 495	100%
Purchase James Kleynhans Pump Set	1 220 000	100%
Fencing of Bothas Hill Reservoirs	1 301 739	100%
Feasibility Study of investigation of water supply to Makhanda West from James Kleinhans WTW	1 421 079	100%
Replacement of Asbestos pipes in water reticulation network in Grahamstown	4 007 617	Contractor appointed
Waainek Bulk Water Supply Refurbishment (Multi-year Project)	8 932 226	33%
Groundwater Development (Boreholes)	798 857	100%

2.. Water Crisis Disaster Management Projects:

• • 1. Water loss management through leak repairs (Mobisam), zone and domestic meter installation, in a bid to realise revenue enhancement.
    2. Repair or replacement; upgrading and expansion of telemetry system at reservoirs (Tantyi and Bothas Hill).
    3. Upgrading of SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition), computer system used for monitoring and control of infrastructure, (all, excluding Seven Fountains).
    4. Refurbishment and or replacement of pump sets and equipment (i.e. pumps, motors, electricity supply, inlet screen, valves, etc.) at pump stations; (new motor from ACTOM (motor no. 4) was procured, and the pump (Pumps No.3 and No.4) were refurbished at James Kleynhans Pump Station.
    5. Cleaned, refurbished and secured two reservoirs (Reservoir No.1 and Botha’s Hill).

3. SUPPORT BY MISA AND NATIONAL COGTA

MISA is providing technical support in terms of civil work on infrastructure and the electrical engineer is normally on site at the James Kleynhans Water Treatment Works. MISA also provides funding for the rehabilitation and maintenance of Grahamstown CBD road, Somerset, Hill and New Road.

The support is also given to municipality on MIG Projects planning, implementation and monitoring processes as well as ensuring the development of response plan to service delivery challenges.

National Cogta has allocated MIG funding to deal with all the persistence service delivery challenges including Water and Sanitation.