Water and Sanitation Minister Pemmy Majodina has called on all the affected municipalities in the Free State to expedite plans to continue water provision during the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) tunnel shutdown in the next two weeks.
The LHWP tunnel will undergo six-month maintenance from October 1 to March 31.
Majodina engaged with the executive mayors of Thabo Mofutsanyana and Fezile Dabi district municipalities in Bethlehem on Saturday.
Deputy Ministers of Water and Sanitation David Mahlobo, Performance, Monitoring, and Evaluation Seiso Mohai, and Free State MEC for cooperative governance and traditional affairs Saki Mokoena were with Majodina.
Majodina noted that during the outage, there will be no water deliveries from Lesotho to South Africa.
General inspections
“It is therefore important for municipalities to ensure that water security measures are maintained and various water enforcement mechanisms, like water restrictions, are applied by the municipalities,” she said.
“Although some municipalities are still lagging behind in terms of their readiness, we, as the department, are giving them the support that they need.”
The Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority, in charge of running and maintaining the section within South Africa, and the Lesotho Highlands Development Agency, which runs and maintains the Lesotho section of the LHWP tunnel system, will jointly carry out the six-month shutdown.
The tunnel system requires general inspections and repair works to be conducted at about five-year intervals to ensure the integrity and reliability of the entire water tunnel system.
The shutdown takes place as the region goes into summer, which requires people to constantly hydrate to keep cool.
Due to the tunnel shutdown, 700-million m3 per annum will be transferred in 2024, resulting in a shortfall of 80-million m3 from the normal annual transfer volume.
Relief interventions
However, the Department of Water and Sanitation has embarked on relief interventions for municipalities along the Caledon River, Wilge River, Vaal River, and Rhenoster River.
The interventions include the upgrading of water treatment works, upgrading of raw water pumps, upgrading of abstraction works, the construction of new reservoirs, as well as the development of groundwater resources by drilling and equipping boreholes.
Majodina noted that while all these projects are underway, some of the municipalities are behind schedule with the implementation of the projects.
“Where necessary, the Department of Water and Sanitation will intervene to support the municipalities to complete the projects which are critical in ensuring sustainable water supply to communities during the tunnel system shutdown,” Majodina said. – SAnews.gov.za
