The City’s Water and Sanitation Directorate has set aside just over R100 million for this 2021/2022 financial year for the city-wide programme to replace ageing water pipeline infrastructure. The replacement programme is progressing well.

The Water and Sanitation Directorate has an annual pipe replacement programme, which aims to maintain the City’s water network infrastructure through upgrades and replacement of the existing water reticulation infrastructure.

The water replacements per year are normally between 28 000m and 45 000m. For this financial year, the target is set at 50 000m, of which 23 492 meters of water pipelines were replaced by the end of February 2022.

The areas that have been prioritised for this programme during this financial year are Hout Bay, Fish Hoek, Diep River, Muizenberg, Constantia, Elfindale, Tokai, Belhar, Somerset West, Blackheath, Gordons Bay, Khayelitsha, Kraaifontein, Bellville, Durbanville, Welgemoed, Table View, Flamingo Vlei, Atlantis, Duynefontein, Montague Gardens, Vredehoek, Bridgetown, Schaapkraal, Panorama, Rosebank, Conradie Park, Harfield Village and Observatory.

The City considers the likelihood and consequence of failure when identifying and prioritising pipes for replacement. One of the parameters which informs the pipe replacement assessment is failures reported/logged by the public.

‘As a growing city, we are investing in our infrastructure and it is important that we proactively maintain, rehabilitate, replace and upsize water pipelines to ensure a continuous, reliable supply to our residents. There are more than 10 000 km of water mains in the city and a good percentage of this infrastructure is ageing.

‘We are glad to know this year’s proactive maintenance programme is progressing well and that more than 23 492 meters of pipeline, which is almost 50% of this financial year’s target, has already been replaced,’ said Councillor Zahid Badroodien, Mayoral Committee Member for Water Sanitation.

Source: City Of Cape Town