A Gauteng Water Security Dashboard has been released every Friday since October 2024. The eThekwini Water Security Dashboard has now also been released.
In both Gauteng and eThekwini, there is currently an imbalance in supply and demand.
In Gauteng, this will prevail at least until the completion of Phase two of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, the Polihali Dam, scheduled for 2028.
Similarly, eThekwini has experienced frequent and widespread water outages in recent years. This imbalance will prevail at least until the completion of a number of major projects in the uMkhomazi Water System, to be delivered over the course of the next decade.
For the next couple of years, both systems will remain strained with little redundancy and no reserve supply capacity. Municipal water losses (both non-revenue and revenue water) are excessive, accelerating rapid demand growth due to population increase. At the same time many individuals, households and businesses use more water than is necessary during this water shortage, and reducing consumption at all levels is necessary to bring supply and demand back into balance.
Two multi-stakeholder platforms have been established, namely the Platform for a Water Secure Gauteng (PWSG), established in June 2024, and the Platform for a Water Secure eThekwini (PWSeT), established in October 2024. The platforms draw the public sector, private sector and civil society together to strengthen water security in the respective areas.
These dashboards are one of the initiatives of the PWSG and PWSeT. The dashboard will enable all sectors to get a common understanding of the state of the water system and progress in strengthening the system. The intention is to host the dashboards on the DWS website and to develop them over time.
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