By Geoff Embling, Ward Four Councillor (DA)
Out of 822 residents who filled in the recent online petition about the ongoing water crisis, 800 answered the question about how many days they had been without water over the past ten days. People from all areas in Makana signed the petition.
Analysis of the sample period of ten days showed that 62% of the residents surveyed had been without water for longer than six out of every ten days:
- 211 out of 800 residents had been without water for ten out of ten days (26.4%)
- 47 out of 800 residents had been without water for nine out of ten days (5.9%)
- 119 out of 800 residents had been without water for eight out of ten days (14.9%)
- 118 out of 800 residents had been without water for seven out of ten days (14.8%)
From the survey data, 62% of the population in Makana Municipality had been without water for longer than the specified “one-day-on, two-days-off” water cycle that Makana Municipality claimed as the norm. The “one-day-on, two-days-off” cycle would translate into 6.66 days without water over a ten-day period.
The water crisis in Makana has continued, unabated, for over a month, thus the ten-day sample period used in the survey can be extended across the whole length of the crisis. The findings were that 62% of the population has been going without water for periods longer than “one-day-on, two-days-off”, and that 26.4% of the population has been going without water for considerably extended lengths of time.
The paper-based physical water petition, with over 900 signatures, plus the online water petition, with 822 “signatures”, have been submitted to the Department of Water Affairs, and they are being driven in parliament by Kevin Mileham, MP.
