Expert attributes SA water woes to incorrect fund allocations

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Water scientist, Professor Anthony Turton, has blamed government’s incorrect allocation of funds for the country’s water problems.

This after the Human Rights Commission in Limpopo yesterday said part of the water problems were due to corruption in all three metros in Gauteng.

Turton says the money is there, but the allocation of resources and planning are the problem.

He says the problem is not water shortage or overconsumption but planning to upgrade infrastructure.

“The three combined metros in the Gauteng area have got something in the order of R100 billion worth of backlog infrastructure that they should have replaced and have not yet replaced. Rand Water has got something in the order of R35 or R36 billion worth of capital upgrades that they have not done. This is not because they didn’t have the money, it’s just because they didn’t do the work or that money that they did have to do that work was allocated elsewhere. That’s our core problem.”

Mismanagement leading to ‘water shifting’

Johannesburg and surrounding areas have been hit by severe water cuts and water interruptions have scaled up in recent weeks.

The deteriorating situation recently forced Minister of Water and Sanitation Senzo Mchunu to intervene and give Rand Water the go-ahead to temporarily implement water shifting in Gauteng.

Water shifting is redirecting the water flow from areas with lower consumption to communities affected by outages and shortages.

Associate Professor and Water Management Expert at UNISA, Professor Anja du Plessis, says mismanagement and poor maintenance of resources have led to water shifting.

Prof Du Plessis elaborates in the video below: