MMC LAUNCHES NEW CROWN GARDENS TOWERS
The City of Johannesburg MMC for Environment and Infrastructure Services Department (EISD) Cllr Tania OldJohn today officially launched the Johannesburg Water (JW) two Megalitre Crown Gardens Tower. The MMC was accompanied by Johannesburg Water Managing Director Ntshavheni Mukwevho and his management team as well as local councillors.
The two towers comprised of an old one which is newly refurbished, as well as a newly built one. The new tower will boost the existing reservoir and tower complex to meet the growing population’s water demand in areas such as Robertsham, Mondeor, Southdale and surrounding areas.
“Water scarcity is a challenge facing many parts of the world, and South Africa is a water-stressed country, making this challenge a local phenomenon. It is an imbalance between the growing competing water demands, and increasingly erratic availability of sufficient quality freshwater,” said the MMC.
The City of Johannesburg implemented water restrictions as a directive from our bulk supplier, and the City is always striving to ensure delivery of quality uninterrupted water supply services to minimise frustration and inconvenience to the residents of the City.
“These efforts will fall short, unless we resolve the question of access to finance for water infrastructure. We need to fast track the process of closing the gap of the current backlog of upgrading and constructing water infrastructure that will be able to meet the water demands of the growing population of the City. Having said that, it is also imperative that the residents work alongside the City by keeping water conservation on top of mind, in addition to safeguarding the city’s infrastructure.
“This can be achieved by decreasing the daily water usage of each household, eradicating illegal water connections and logging service delivery calls on time. In order to supply water to the combined elevated storage capacity, the pump station and pumps had to be expanded. The new pump station is designed to be equipped with three pumps, each delivering 153 litres per second (l/s) at a height of 35m. The design further allows two pumps to deliver the expected peak consumption of 306l/s, with the third pump on standby. There is room for a fourth pump to accommodate future pumping capacity needs,” the MMC added.
The construction of the project commenced in 2019, with the projected completion planned for August of 2020. However, work stoppages by the local community, excessive rainfall as well as the Covid-19 pandemic stalled the project. The building of the addition to the complex came to a total cost of a little over R56million.Eight local SMMEs were subcontracted with particular emphasis on critical skills transfer and improved future grading at 20% of the total cost of the project. A total of 31 local labourers’ opportunities were created for this project, of which 28 were received by local females. Johannesburg Water again delivers on its mandate to deliver quality, safe and consistent water and sanitation services to the residents of the City of Johannesburg.
For more information contact:
Stanley Itshegetseng Deputy Director: Communication and stakeholder relations Office of the MMC – EISD Cell: 0837024778
