Overview of status of Water issues in Musina Local Municipality as presented
by Her Worship Mayor of Musina, Cllr. Mihloti Ramoyada during the networking
dinner of the WOD on Tuesday 15 September 2015 at Musina Lodge.
Thank you Programme Director for giving me this opportunity to give an
Overview of Water issues in Musina Local Municipality.
The overview is as follows:
Musina Municipality is the water service provider and Vhembe District
Municipality is the water services authority. Vhembe District Municipality is
responsible for implementation of all water projects and planning processes,
whereas Musina Municipality is responsible for operation and maintenance of
bulk and reticulated water and sanitation infrastructure.
Musina Municipality is located in arid area. The main source of water available
is the Limpopo River for Musina town. Our five villages depend on underground
water from boreholes. The villages are: Tanda, Tshikhudini, Domboni, Malale
and Madimbo.
Musina town
There are 25 boreholes across the Limpopo River. The water abstracted from
these boreholes are naturally sand filtered, reaches our reservoirs, further
treated and supplied to the consumers. The municipality is licensed to abstract
10 million cubic meters annually by the Department of Water and Sanitation.
However, we only abstract 5million cubic meters annually.
We supply water for domestic and commercial use. Each household has a yard
connection. In town, water is provided for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week unless there are some operational challenges which we address as speedily
as possible. Our daily water production is 15 cubic meters. We are currently
using both conventional and prepaid water meters for Musina.
Water quality of Musina complies with the South African National Standard
(SANS 241) Class 1, which is classified as good drinking water quality. Our
current blue drop status is at 77%. We test our water quality regularly, both
internally and with accredited laboratories.
Our challenges as a municipality are as follows: Firstly, we become affected in
low yield of water we produce during ‘dry year’ when there isn’t enough rainfall
to replenish our water table in the river. This is because we solely depend on
the underground water from Limpopo River. Secondly, occasionally - our total
dissolved solids (TDS) become high and contribute to the saltiness of the
water.
Villages
All five villages get water from ground water – boreholes. There are standpipes
in all villages. Due to the arid regions that these villages are located, water yield
is not so good, which is why at this stage standpipes are used instead of yard
connections. Our biggest challenges are that there is a need to add more stand
pipes to avoid about 200 metres distance that people walk to access water and
that some boreholes drying out. To address some of these challenges, an
alternative water supply is needed.
Farm areas
Farm areas of Musina get water from tankers. We have tanks installed in farm
areas; water cart fills up tanks so that people are able to access water. We do
that in areas were water quality in not good – in areas such as Mopani.
Infrastructure
There is a need to replace some of our water infrastructure. To avoid water
loss, upgrade is also essential as the town is rapidly growing. With our effective
operation and maintenance team, service disruption is kept to a minimal.
Thank you.