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Demand for Jojo tanks and boreholes increase

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There has been a steep increase in requests for boreholes and JoJo tanks by households and companies in the past twelve months. Companies in the industry say demand for alternative water supply will continue to increase if water scarcity remains a challenge.

Residents in many parts of the country have been left with dry taps, some for months as the country continues to battle power cuts and the devastating impact of climate change.

Ikhutseng township residents battling without water:

Owner of Monsoon Irrigation and Boreholes Kevin Dan says they have seen increased demand for boreholes and JoJo tanks, especially in office complexes.

Borehole installations for households have also increased over the past few months. He says installing a borehole at your home could set you back R75 000.

“We have seen two things happen. Increase in demand for boreholes and existing boreholes being connected to the house and the price range now is anything between 75 and 275 thousand rand. Not everyone is going to have a successful borehole, so there are two things people are doing, they connect their borehole system into a filtration system and connect them to their house and secondly, if they are not successful in drilling a borehole, they are putting JoJo tanks on what we call a water standby system.”

The CEO of Stark Borehole Ruan Naude has warned consumers not to install boreholes at their homes from suppliers or companies that are not properly registered. He says poorly installed boreholes can also cause various water borne diseases.

“When you use the company for a borehole, make sure they are registered with Borehole Water Association of South Africa and before you connect this water into the house, this water contains lime, and in some places E.coli, so you need to do a water quality test. There are a lot of people that are putting these tests up for cheap prices, “ he cautions.

Nkomazi Municipality residents decry lack of access to water following recent heavy rains:

Rand Water CEO Sipho Mosai has admitted the country is facing water supply challenges. He says drought in some areas of Gauteng, rolling blackouts, and breakdown in water infrastructure has added more problems. Water infrastructure depends on a reliable power supply to pump water. Higher areas could receive no water due to the poor pressure

The Water Research Commission has indicated that most municipalities are losing between 20 and 30% of the water that is supplied to them and 30% of that water does not reach consumers, something that needs to be attended to and we are working very hard with our municipalities to prioritise that.

“It has been a terrible perfect storm where we have all these things happening that has seen all areas across all provinces having challenges and provisions of water supply, “said Mosai.

 

Rand Water says its system is extremely sensitive to any power outage and may take a minimum of 4 hours to recover after an outage. It is urging South Africans to use water sparingly to assist in the system’s full recovery.

Rand Water has completed its additional storage system which will lead to its systems stabilising. However, full recovery will be dependent on less frequent power failures.

Consumers turning to boreholes to counter water shortages:

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