Plans to fix Musina water supply in the pipeline

• Published date: 26 May 2022
• Publication title: South African Official News

The Department of Water and Sanitation has drafted short and long-term plans to augment water supply in Musina.

This follows recent violent public unrest in Musina due to lack of water supply to the communities, which resulted in discussions on plans to augment water supply to the area.

Water and Sanitation Minister, Senzo Mchunu, along with his Deputy Ministers, David Mahlobo and Dikeledi Magadzi and several senior officials of the department held a community meeting at the Musina Local Municipality in Limpopo on Wednesday.

Mchunu acknowledged that there is a huge water demand in South Africa's border town due to growing population growth driven by rural to urban migration, and a large transit population passing through the town.

Mchunu said the current water demand is 8 million m3 [cubic meter] per year, and based on population growth alone, water demand projection is for 24 million m3 per year by 2040 if the current rate of population growth is sustained.

He also noted that the current status of water in the town and surrounding areas is critical due to the under-investment in water infrastructure and lack of proper operation and maintenance.

'The town relies primarily on groundwater and it also experiences water rationing imposed by Vhembe District Municipality because the current demand exceeds the supply, and also because of high levels of water leaks due to ageing infrastructure in both the bulk supply lines and internal reticulation networks.

'We need to provide reliable and sustainable water supply to Musina, in doing so, we have to address the growing demand and ensure it matches supply," Mchunu said.

During a meeting, the department drafted short- and...