The forum also raised the issue of a lack of skilled management to maintain and run the municipal water services.
Prof Denis Hughes, of the Institute of Water Research, said the maintenance of water systems is a nationwide and worldwide problem and that there are just not enough skilled managers and operators working on water supplies.
The forum also raised the issue of a lack of skilled management to maintain and run the municipal water services.
Prof Denis Hughes, of the Institute of Water Research, said the maintenance of water systems is a nationwide and worldwide problem and that there are just not enough skilled managers and operators working on water supplies.
However, he said that it is comforting that the municipality has just appointed a new director of water services”.
DA Councillor Michael Whisson said that we need to consider whether the articulated water supply is maintained at South African Bureau Standards (SABS) level.
He said we also have to question whether the many water outages in the past are due to aging infrastructure.
Whisson pointed out that there is not only a lack of maintenance but also a shortage of skills among water workers.
He said it took three months after the chlorinator had broken down to realise that the levels of E.coli were unacceptably high.
The municipality has now spent R16 000 on a new chlorinator. At a municipal meeting last month it was decided that R90-million needs to be spent on upgrading water and sanitary services.
