Water prices set to soar

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Gushesh

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As experts warn that SA could run out of water by 2020, get ready for 'electricity-style' hikes.
South Africans must brace themselves for steep water tariff increases in the coming months, water experts have warned.
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Though the exact increases are yet to be calculated, the impending increases would be similar to the astronomical electricity tariff hikes that hit South Africa early last year.

The proposed increases follow last month's warning that South Africa will run out of water by 2020 if nothing is done to supplement water resources.

Speaking on the eve of World Water Week (March 20-26), Water Affairs acting director-general Trevor Balzer said South Africa's cheap water resources have been used up and that government was looking at ways to address the problem.

"We are currently undertaking a study to establish the cost of water into the future. There is no doubt that the cost of water will be more expensive."

Balzer said the government had plans to continue delivering free water to indigent households and that the study, which will be submitted to the cabinet before the end of the year, would reveal the new tariff structures.

Richard Holden, a business analyst at water parastatal Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority, said the water tariffs municipalities charge for potable water is not enough for infrastructure maintenance and replacement.

The result, he said, was that funding constraints would lead to continuous infrastructure collapse, including pipes rusting and bursting.

"The infrastructure is old and needs to be replaced, but there is no money. Water tariffs are too low. We will go the same route as Eskom [by introducing huge tariff hikes]," said Holden.

He said the number of pipe bursts would increase and if not repaired and replaced, could result in high losses that would ultimately be detrimental to consumers.

A means of curbing one-off drastic increases, said Holden, would be for municipalities to implement water conservation campaigns and introduce gradual water price increases now.

If municipalities fail to implement this system, infrastructure would collapse completely and there will be "no money to fix the problem".

"There is a crisis brewing. It is like the acid mine drainage, like Eskom, and like the toll roads. These issues are well known but it seems like we have to have a crisis in order to deal with them," Holden said.

The system, he said, was not sustainable as the current tariffs do not take into account the full costs of operations, depreciation, maintenance and replacement.

Currently, most municipalities charge between R3.80 and R4.70 per kilolitre of water. But Holden believes this should be increased by between R3 and R4.

SA Institute of Civil Engineering water division chairman Dr Chris Herold said most water infrastructure in South Africa is well beyond its 50-year lifespan.

"We are approaching a 10-year backlog. It's old and getting older."

Department of Water Affairs spokesman Linda Page said bulk infrastructural requirements and maintenance backlogs across South Africa amount to R1.3-billion. According to a presentation made in parliament by the department in January, municipalities owe water boards a whopping R1.7-billion.

Herold said crumbling infrastructure manifests itself in the large amounts of water, which cities cannot account for.

The City of Johannesburg, he said, lost between 35% and 40% of its water last year as a result of crumbling infrastructure and general household wastage. In the 2009-2010 financial year, the City of Cape Town could not account for about 83.4million kilolitres of water.
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http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/article979785.ece/Water-prices-set-to-soar
 
Water is Africa's most precious resource. Lets give it away for free! yayayayayayayaya!!

What irks me is why do you still get people that cannot close a tap?
 
Mike Hoxbig said:
How does one "run out of water"?
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When it is privatised it runs out. As with everything private companies tend to create this perception that scarcity is natural made when in essence it's greed made in order to inflate the prices that we pay for goods. Nature always provides an abundance of resources and scarcity on natural products is a myth. Demand can't exceed supply for natural products, take for instance if we plant a certain amount of wheat and for that year we see that we didn't plant enough then the following year and going forward we will plant more and nature won't limit us. IMO
 
I have no problem with paying more for water, in fact I'd pay double what they need if the money was used for conservation and future sustainability programs... but as we all know, that's a ****ing pipe-dream. **** the ANC.
If I had to lose my mind every time I see the comrades miss an opportunity for job creation I'd be dead by now. Sustainability and clean energy programs in this country could create tons of jobs, and I don't believe for a second we don't actually have the money (well, we don't, thanks to corruption, bad planning and wastefullness). Sad to see all this potential circling the drain.

Oh how I would have loved to live in a 3rd world country that kicks ass in the sustainability sector regarding natural resources. We have more than enough wasted man-power and money. But noooo, the infrastructure will keep collapsing, the masses will keep revolting, we'll keep paying and hiding in our fake fortresses.
 
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Mbuzi said:
When it is privatised it runs out. As with everything private companies tend to create this perception that scarcity is natural made when in essence it's greed made in order to inflate the prices that we pay for goods. Nature always provides an abundance of resources and scarcity on natural products is a myth. Demand can't exceed supply for natural products, take for instance if we plant a certain amount of wheat and for that year we see that we didn't plant enough then the following year and going forward we will plant more and nature won't limit us. IMO
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Sorry. How do we plant water?
 
Mbuzi said:
When it is privatised it runs out. As with everything private companies tend to create this perception that scarcity is natural made when in essence it's greed made in order to inflate the prices that we pay for goods. Nature always provides an abundance of resources and scarcity on natural products is a myth. Demand can't exceed supply for natural products, take for instance if we plant a certain amount of wheat and for that year we see that we didn't plant enough then the following year and going forward we will plant more and nature won't limit us. IMO
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You're kidding, right? Dear god, tell me you're kidding?!!
 
Mike Hoxbig said:
How does one "run out of water"?
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When the water supply network fails, you run out of water. Water supply network includes:

- Wastewater treatment
- Water treatment
- Water storage facilities
- Water distribution network
- Water Management
- Billing Management

SA local municipalities are generally poor at managing all the above.
 
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dlk001 said:
When the water supply network fails, you run out of water. Water supply network includes:

- Wastewater treatment
- Water treatment
- Water storage facilities
- Water distribution network
- Water Management
- Billing Management
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Yes, and that doesn't even include the impact you make when building more catchment areas.
Also worth a mention is the redundancy needed to cater for changes due to climate change.
 
Mbuzi said:
When it is privatised it runs out. As with everything private companies tend to create this perception that scarcity is natural made when in essence it's greed made in order to inflate the prices that we pay for goods. Nature always provides an abundance of resources and scarcity on natural products is a myth. Demand can't exceed supply for natural products, take for instance if we plant a certain amount of wheat and for that year we see that we didn't plant enough then the following year and going forward we will plant more and nature won't limit us. IMO
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Mbuzi said:
Who wrote about planting water? You high or incredible stupid?
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Oh yeah tell me I'm stupid. That is the answer.

Oh and by the way. If the land is finished. "we" can not plant more.

If the water is finished we can not make more.
 
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