Zille blasts Joburg Water as leaks gush and residents go dry

South Africa’s water crisis is spilling out in plain sight – literally.

In Linbro Park, Johannesburg, a burst pipe has been gushing millions of litres of clean drinking water for a week, forming a lake while residents nearby struggle with throttled taps.

DA mayoral candidate Helen Zille said yesterday that before households are scolded for “over‑consumption”, Joburg Water should fix the leaks that bleed the system dry.

Zille slams Joburg Water as burst pipes waste millions

Zille visited Linbro Park yesterday where a burst water pipe has been left running for a week.

“Millions of litres of water have been gushing out of a pipe for a week,” she said.

“It’s fresh, clean drinking water running down the street and creating a lake while Rand Water is throttling Joburg Water to make sure residents use less water when they don’t even have running water in their pipes.”

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Zille said, according to Joburg Water, the average resident uses double the international average of water per day.

“I don’t believe that for a minute,” she said.

According to the United Nations, every person has the right to have access to enough water for personal and domestic uses, meaning between 50 and 100 litres of water per person per day.

Water leaks is why consumption is high

Zille said water leaks were the reason consumption was so high.

“We are losing millions of litres of water to waste due to leaks and bad infrastructure,” she said.

DA Tshwane mayoral candidate Cilliers Brink said it’s important that municipalities actively monitor their reservoir levels and take it up with the bulk supplier in time.

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“If municipalities don’t monitor their water consumption and those reservoirs run dry, then it becomes very difficult to address that situation,” said Brink.

“We have seen this in communities such as Laudium and Atteridgeville these past few weeks.”

He said municipalities need to reduce the levels of water waste, “because you can take measures when Rand Water has its problems and throttling you and your reservoirs aren’t filling up in the short term”.