This is in addition to 31 water trucks dispatched to various cities and towns in the province to ensure all communities have access to water as the country battles the deadly coronavirus pandemic. Thus far 1380 people countrywide have tested positive for Covid-19.

The Free State division of the department led by Tseliso Ntili, reveals the trucks and tanks have been dispatched to Vrede, Fouriesburg, Harrismith, Senekal, Clocolan, Petrus Steyn, Cornelia, Villiers, Kroonstad, Viljoenskroon, Welkom, Bloemfontein, Thaba’ Nchu and Sasolburg. “The department has further established an operations centre where daily meetings take place with municipalities and water boards utilising internet-based conferencing facilities,” reveals the statement. It is here that regular updates on water supply issues will be discussed.

Elsewhere in the province, the Kopanong Local Municipality which includes Fauresmith, Trompsburg and Jagersfontein last week assured the public it is continuing to manage in the face of water restrictions imposed over its mounting debt to Bloem Water. Kopanong owes Bloem Water more than R200 million and counting for services rendered. The water board has as a result reduced water supply by 60% to 70%. Kopanong spokesperson, Solomzi Phama, says they are meeting their monthly payment plans with the water board and are in conversations with them regarding the possibility of ending the restrictions so that there is 100% water supply.

Phama acknowledges residents in some areas in the municipality, particularly the uphill ones, have complained of the lack of water, due to the restrictions which are exacerbated by infrastructure quality there. He says the municipality has supplied Jojo tanks to ensure the community does have access to water during the lockdown.

Ngwathe Local Municipality on the other end  of the province has roped in Sedibeng Water in an effort to intensify efforts to sort out the issues at the Parys water treatment plant. Parys is the lesser known casualty of the Vaal River crisis. The town is located downstream where pollution is likely to gather. 

Save the Vaal told OFM News previously that the embattled Emfuleni Local Municipality in Gauteng - seen as the main offender in the crisis - receives their domestic water from the Vaal Dam which then undergoes extensive treatment by Rand Water. Ngwathe, however, specifically Parys, receives their domestic supply from the polluted river and due to  the challenges at the treatment plant, the municipality struggles to purify the water to the required standards.

OFM News