Staff and students should, however, anticipate that it will not be “water availability as usual”. There will be times of discomfort and various adaptations will need to be made, such as bringing your own drinking water to campus or having to walk further to operating toilets.
Yesterday’s low water pressure and in some cases, lack of water, is a case in point.
While the University continues to do all that it can during the water shortages, it cannot be business as usual.
Cut back consumption
The institution is also calling on staff and students to renew efforts to drastically cut back on water usage so that we can reduce the present daily consumption rate and preserve what water supply is left.
As at 9 March, the combined dam levels were below 12% and Day Zero - when the taps run dry - anticipated before July. Indeed, many have already experienced days without the municipal water supply.
It is therefore incumbent upon us all to do what we personally can to be part of the solution.
Be it at home, on campus, in our residences or out and about in our Metro, you are encouraged to lead by example in your water-saving initiatives and keep your personal consumption to less than 50 litres of water a day.
University interventions
As has been shared, the University has introduced alternative water supply sources (borehole and reclaimed) as solutions during the water crisis.
There is a plan for each campus, and efforts are underway to support South Campus by introducing two boreholes once the exploratory research has been completed.
Reclaimed water (return effluent) could be introduced as an alternative for the flushing of toilets on South Campus, but this is not viable in the long-term, hence the quest to sink boreholes.
Switch-over days
To test the University’s functioning efficiency should the taps run dry, the institution plans to host a series of “switch over” days.
This is when an entire campus will switch off its municipal supply and introduce its alternative water supply to ascertain readiness for Day Zero.
The campuses identified for these “switch-over” days are North, Ocean Sciences and Second Avenue.
The University, and each campus, will receive ample forewarning of the “switch-over” day, and be guided on what to do and what to expect.
In some way, with the ongoing outages, low water pressure and need to boil all tap water, staff and students are already being sensitised to the realities of Day Zero.
Boil water
A case in point, is the Metro-wide call to boil all tap water because of the need to add alternative water sources into the distribution system to supplement the shortfall.
Staff and students are urged to boil all tap water and bottle it for their personal use while on campus.
Testing of water
The Safety, Health and Environment team is working with academic colleagues from Biochemistry and Microbiology to test the standard of water presently reaching North, South, Ocean Sciences and Second Avenue campuses.
Missionvale Campus receives its water from the Nooitgedacht Scheme, which is presently supporting about 70% of the Metro.
Unfortunately, our Summerstrand campuses, as well as Bird Street Campus, fall into the red zone – the area that will be impacted by the deepening water crisis first.
Wellness watch
Likewise, colleagues from both Occupational Health and Student Health are monitoring the wellness of staff and students in relation to any waterborne diseases.
We are happy to report that no cases of gastroenteritis or other waterborne diseases have been reported.
Information on waterborne diseases can be found on the website.
Dedicated water webpage
The University has a webpage that is dedicated to the water crisis.
The site contains water-saving collateral, all related media and Memos, key messages from the municipality and health information.
New posters calling on staff and students to keep ablution facilities clean and be conscious of saving water have also been printed and are being put up. These are also available on the webpage for printing.
Report leaks / water abuse
Please report all water leaks and/or water abuse via water@mandela.ac.za or use the CRM system to get water-related matters fixed or improved.
Thank you!
The University thanks staff and students for their support in saving water.