South African taps run dry after power shortages

BBC News ^ | 6/18/2023 | Pumza Fihlani

[george76]

The peace of a normally tranquil suburban road near South Africa's capital, Pretoria, is being shattered by the sound of drilling.

These are not prospectors looking for a new source of the country's mineral wealth, but workers digging for an arguably more precious resource: water.

Private boreholes - like this one being excavated in Garsfontein - are springing up across the wealthier neighbourhoods in the country's economic heartland, where taps have been running dry.

"I am tired of not knowing when we will have water and when we won't," the frustrated homeowner says.

Having a borehole means we won't have to depend on the government so much, it's what's best for my family."

Much of the domestic water supply here depends on electricity to pump it from the source to the vast high plain on which the cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria sit.

South Africa's recent electricity woes - with regular lengthy scheduled blackouts - have had a knock-on effect on the supply of water.

"All of our stations, they need electricity, they need power.

...

Some days I don't have both water and electricity, and this can be for days at a time. It makes daily life insufferable,

...

The lack of electricity has exacerbated issues created by poorly maintained infrastructure, which has led to vast leaks as well as sewage problems, and a supply of water that cannot meet demand.

Seventy million litres of treated, clean, drinkable water are lost every single day because of leaks that are endemic in the crumbling water system.

...

because of corruption and theft.

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