The North West Premier, Bushy Maape, last weekend established a so-called “War room on water” to address the escalating water challenges in the province.

The Madibeng municipality joined other municipalities in North West, together with officials of the Department of Water and Sanitation and water boards in a special meeting of the Inter-Departmental Water Task Team.

“This Task Team, which will serve as a War Room on Water, will ensure that we act in the spirit of cooperative governance in tackling the issues of water provision in the province. We are one government and we wish to ensure that the people of our province are able to experience the provision of services in a seamless manner. Our approach is firstly to ensure in the short term that there is no community in any part of the province without immediate access to clean water. In a number of instances this will mean the provision of water through water tankering,” he said.

“A second element of our approach is to ensure that the existing infrastructure is maintained and is utilised to its full potential. While we are addressing the need for immediate access to water, we are at the same time reviewing our plans towards ensuring long term sustainability of water provision.”

Maape has invited all residents who experience water problems to phone the Water Hotline on 0800 111 700.