Johannesburg and the large nearby town of Soweto have been forced to endure days without water as power problems knock out pumping stations and a late summer heat wave strains reservoirs.
Local utilities have reduced water pressure or shut off water altogether, forcing residents to rely on bottled water. And in Johannesburg’s rich, leafy suburbs, reserve water is in short supply.
south africa daily maverick report:
On Sunday, March 17, Johannesburg Water said the system remained under “severe strain” and bulk supplier Rand Water warned the system was facing imminent collapse. Many faucets are still dry as a bone.
…
Water outages, low pressure, and throttling affect the entire system. Only some areas have regular supplies. Water supplies were dry in much of Soweto, and residents reported local shops were out of bottled water or unable to afford more. Johannesburg Water has 25 to 28 water tankers, but they are insufficient for the scale of the crisis.
…
Rand Water says the heat wave is causing the crisis, as its water demand graphs show. Southern Africa is experiencing its hottest February and March. … Weather is also a factor, but Johannesburg’s summers are generally hot and predictable for water planners.
Approximately 10 million people live in the Johannesburg metropolitan area. Soweto was a predominantly black area separated from the main city under apartheid and is now considered the main part of Johannesburg.
While Cape Town’s water shortages a few years ago were the result of drought and inadequate national planning for a growing local population, Johannesburg’s water shortages represent a broader breakdown.
South Africa has suffered from chronic electricity shortages for years as a result of poor management by the state-run power company Eskom, which has been plagued by cronyism, corruption and the loss of skilled engineers and managers.
These power shortages are also affecting public utilities that rely on electricity. The risk of water scarcity has led many wealthy Johannesburg residents to dig wells on their property, something poorer people cannot afford.
South Africans will go to the polls on May 29 in national and local elections, but the failures of the African National Congress (ANC) government, in power since the end of apartheid in 1994, will be a major factor.
Joel B. Pollack is a senior editor at Breitbart News. Breitbart News Sunday Sunday nights from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM ET (4:00 PM to 7:00 PM PT) on Sirius XM Patriot. He is the author of a new biography, Rhoda: “Comrade Cadderly, you are abnormal.”. He is also the author of a recently published e-book. Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 US Presidential Election. He is the recipient of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter @joelpolak.
