Water extracted from the Sterkfontein dam had still not been replaced, six months after officials promised that it would be, Wits School of Governance visiting adjunct professor Mike Muller has pointed out.

Speaking at last week’s South African Institution of Civil Engineering Civilution confer-ence, the former Department of Water Affairs director-general emphasised the need for concern about the water resources that underpin water supply.

Muller told the conference that, in December, for some reason, Water Affairs Minister Nomvula Mokonyane and her officials decided to release 10% of the water in Sterkfontein, the strategic water reserve of the province of Gauteng.

“That is enough to keep Rand Water working for two months. They promised to replace it rapidly,” he explained.

Six months later, the dam was still 10% lower than it should be.

“We need the Minister to explain why her department is reducing Gauteng’s water security and what she is going to do about it.”

The National Development Commission then-commissioner, who chaired the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Water Security from 2012 to 2014, warned that, if this year’s drought continued into the next season, Gauteng could face the risk of severe restrictions.

The third largest dam in South Africa, Sterkfontein holds more water than the Vaal dam.

It is not filled by a river but by working with State electricity utility Eskom to pump water from the Thukela river in KwaZulu-Natal.

Muller outlined how Gauteng faced similar challenges with the construction of the second phase of the Lesotho Highlands Water Scheme.

“That project is already six years late,” he said, adding that it was supposed to be completed by 2018.

However, the design of the dam and tunnel had not even begun.

Although the Cabinet had authorised the procurement of consultants months ago, tenders had still not been issued, he decried.

While Lesotho was ready to proceed, South Africa was holding up the process.

“What is the problem? Is somebody trying to do a deal with this vital project? We cannot afford to put the security of Gauteng’s economy at risk like this,” said Muller.

However, he complimented the department and the professionals concerned on the progress that had been made on the management of acid mine drainage (AMD).

Careful study and preparation had produced a phased response towards reducing the volume of water going into the ground, which deter-mined the volume of water that would emerge to be treated.

But the next phase of the project had still to proceed and there appeared to be infighting about who would take the lead.

Similar structured approaches would be needed to use desalination to address the challenges of expanding water supply in South Africa’s coastal cities, where desalination was an obvious alternative but needed to be carefully implemented.

“We must not wait until there is a crisis, as the Australians did, before we start,” Muller cautioned.

Neither should the country opt for desalination ahead of cheaper local sources “just because we can do a deal, as the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality tried to do”.

Desalination needed to be introduced as part of a system, as an outcome of careful systems analysis that took into account costs and options.

It would be interesting to see whether Ethekwini or Cape Town took the first step.

In a video interview with Creamer Media’s Mining Weekly Online in December, Muller pointed out that, even if the contract for the second phase of the Lesotho Highlands Water Scheme were signed now, water from it would only be available in 2024, which could result in a water shortage in Gauteng and the surrounding provinces reliant on the Vaal river system.

“We know that, around 2018 to 2020, the capa-city of the Vaal system to provide water, if there is a serious drought like we’re having now, will be insufficient, and we need to take some measures to deal with that, but some of those measures are going to take time,” Muller said.

He also urged action on AMD and described as “embarrassing” the South African government being slower than the Lesotho government to decide on the Lesotho Highlands Water Scheme’s second phase.

“I get worried. This is how we got into the energy crisis. We had everything in place but somehow the decision just didn’t get taken,” Muller told Mining Weekly at the time.

He conceded that the Lesotho project’s process was “complicated, delicate and nuanced” involving two govern-ments, a treaty, an estimated R10-billion capital cost and Lesotho running the procurement process and South Africa providing the funding at a time of significant financial stringency.

South Africa’s Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority (TCTA) and the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority were required to work together to decide how to proceed and then to implement that decision.

The two governments had to study the implica-tions and consumers in South Africa would need to start paying immediately once the con-tract was signed to avoid a sharp rise in water tariffs, as has taken place with electricity.

Tariffs needed to be increased slowly over time so that consumers would have grown accustomed to paying additional amounts, as had happened with Phase 1B.

That approach could be repeated with Phase 2, but it meant the National Treasury, the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, the Department of Water Affairs and Sanitation, TCTA and Rand Water getting their act together.

The Water Affairs Minister needed to present Lesotho Highlands Water Scheme proposals and AMD project decisions to the Cabinet, together with an outline to the Finance Minister of the required capital expenditure.

As Department of Water Affairs director-general from 1997 to 2005, Muller was responsible for the development and implementation of policy and legislative reform and initiation of a range of national water programmes and projects that gave ten-million people access to safe water.