MPUMALANGA needs R250m to replace old asbestos-cement pipes in the Witbank area alone, the head of the province’s cooperative governance and traditional affairs department, David Mahlobo, said yesterday.

The Emalahleni municipality, which encompasses the industrial and coal-mining nexus of Witbank and Ogies, is already spending R71m just on stabilising bulk water supply infrastructure.

Households and industry in the area had to deal with a water cut at the weekend — adding to others since last Wednesday — after a maintenance operation at the Emalahleni dam went wrong. Technicians at Evraz Highveld Steel & Vanadium stepped in to aid the municipality on Saturday in a successful bid to avoid water cuts affecting production at its Emalahleni manufacturing hub, said a company spokesman.

The hub produces iron and steel products, and vanadiumbearing slag.

Mpumalanga — Witbank particularly — is the heartland of SA’s 6bn coal-mining industry.

The town is also home to large operations belonging to companies such as Anglo American, BHP Billiton, Eskom, Exxaro, Komatsu, Joy, Renova Group, SABMiller, Samancor, Shanduka Beverages, Xstrata and Zenith.

Mr Mahlobo said Rand Water was on site fixing the area’s immediate water delivery problem. The R71m had been allocated before the municipal elections this year.

Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority municipal water expert Richard Holden said asbestoscement pipes were not linked to asbestosis, but “leak like sieves”. They had been used extensively in SA over the past half century.

“Most of Sandton has them, and eThekwini has a large replacement programme on,” he said yesterday.

Government statistics estimate SA loses more than 600billion litres of water a year through leaks, inaccurate meters, theft and poor accounting measures. This amount equates to more than R3,2bn (35% of water supplied annually).

Water resource infrastructure is financed either by the national budget or through the TransCaledon Tunnel Authority, which has about R22,9bn worth of infrastructure reflected on its balance sheet and is planning for additional projects to the value of R21bn over the next few years.

Mr Holden said asbestoscement pipes were being replaced by ones in PVC because, in addition to their leakiness due to the cement being dissolved where water was acidic, they were brittle and cracked easily. This added to the leakage problem.

Emalahleni municipality spokesman Humphrey Mayisela said the water cut to the area was initially part of a planned shutdown of the raw water pump station at Emalahleni dam for repairs and maintenance.

Water was restored to residents by Wednesday, but on Friday a technical problem developed at the dam, which led to a second shutdown and a supply shortage in Emalahleni, Ogies, Phola, KwaGuqa and KwaMthunzivilakazi.

Democratic Alliance member of the provincial legislature Anthony Benadie said the provincial department and the Emalahleni council needed to conduct a full study of the area’s supply and demand and the staff that was necessary to restore and maintain water supply, as well as the amount to be spent.

The council should not be resorting to “crisis management”, he said.

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Households and industry had to deal with a water cut at the weekend

Cut was initially part of a planned shutdown of raw water pump station

Source: Business Day