Question NW3869 to the Minister of Water and Sanitation

Reply:

The Magareng Local Municipality reported that it is implementing three short- and medium term initiatives to address water supply challenges in Warrenton and surrounding areas, summarized as follows:

• Water tankering was implemented as a temporary measure to ensure continuous water supply to the communities until water supply was restored in November 2023. However, the municipality still has two trucks operating across the town of Warrenton on an ad hoc basis.

• The municipality appointed a service provider to inspect and repair the damaged bulk pipeline that transfers water from the Water Treatment Works through the Vaal River to the town of Warrenton. Inconsistencies in the river levels resulted in delays to the completion of the repairs to the pipeline. Repairs resumed on 08 August 2023 and the project was completed and water provision restored for the whole of Warrenton in November 2023. The project was funded by the municipality for R1 169 594,71.

However, it should be noted that the Magareng Municipality is operating old infrastructure such as asbestos pipelines (major component of distribution network), thus over and above the damage to the pipeline there have been challenges impeding adequate supply of water to residents. For example, as indicated the distribution network was not operational for 8 months, this automatically resulted that the asbestos cement pipes had dried up (become brittle), once water was restored, the pressure build-up in pipes resulted in major leakage problems due to asbestos pipes are bursting. The leakages affect pressure variation in the network in this way water supply becomes problematic during peak hours.

• The construction of the bulk water pipeline on the old N18 Margrieta Prinsloo bridge is a long term and most sustainable solution to resolve the water supply challenges in the municipality. The cost to completion for the remaining works is estimated at R5 145 435. Construction of the remaining portion of the project commenced in April 2023. The project is 90% complete. The planned completion was initially August 2023, however during the restoration there were various challenges that occurred such as increased leakages of the asbestos pipes and major valves components having rusted and breaking off. The team revised the strategy to include reconstruction of valve chambers and leakage repairs as part of the bulk water pipeline as this restricted the functionality of the whole bulk water pipeline. As a result, the completion date has been moved to December 2023. The expenditure to date is R2 380 622,38 against the R5 145 435.

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