South Africa’s water companies in Johannesburg, have urgently urged city dwellers and suburban towns work together to conserve water resources in the face of an increasing scarcity.
They warn that failure to act could result in a system collapse.
Rand Water and Johannesburg Water stated that excessive water usage by citizens has placed an unsustainable pressure on the city’s water infrastructure, resulting in critically low reservoir levels.
In a bid to avert disaster, “these utilities are urging residents to adopt immediate water-saving measures, including reducing shower times to a mere two minutes, reserving toilet flushing for essential purposes, and restricting car washing to weekends using buckets”.
Residents are also urged not to fill swimming pools until the water scarcity situation has passed, not to irrigate gardens and lawns with potable water, and to rectify or report any water leaks as soon as possible.
This request comes as Johannesburg continues to face annual water restrictions, which are normally imposed during South Africa’s dry season, which runs from September to March.
An alarming scarcity has occurred in recent weeks, leaving certain people and key institutions such as hospitals without access to water, causing considerable displeasure.
