Despite the magnitude of the City of Johannesburg’s (CoJ’s) existing sewer and water network, infrastructure will need to double over the next ten years to meet the surge in demand, delegates heard at the Symposium on the Future of Water-Efficient Sanitation on Thursday.
The two-day symposium is being hosted by the CoJ, together with the Department of Water and Sanitation, the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), the South Africa Local Government Association, the Water Partnerships Office, the Water Research Commission and Planact.
Amid the expected population surge in the next ten years from 5.8-million to seven-million and subsequent rising demand, the city requires R3-billion a year to invest in bulk infrastructure and maintenance, yet the city can only afford R1-billion, said CoJ Mayor Councillor Dada Morero.
Highlighting the magnitude of the challenge, he said that the CoJ currently had a sewer network spanning more than 12 000 km, six wastewater treatment plants and 38 pumpstations.
The city has been buckling under the pressure to maintain or replace the existing, aging infrastructure.
