At present, South Africa is classified as a water-stressed country as we have less than 1 700 cubic metres of water for each person per year. If we don't learn how to use our limited supplies wisely, we will move into a water-scarcity category of less than 1 000 cubic metres per person per year by 2025.
During almost a hundred years of service, Rand Water has built a solid reputation for delivering high quality, potable water to its bulk consumers. In simple terms, Rand Water can be said to be a 'wholesaler' of potable water.
In the last financial year, Rand Water delivered +-963 965 megalitres of water to local authorities, large industries and mines. This translates to an annual average daily quantity of 3400 mega-litres. (This is 3400 million litres per day)
Rand Water buys its raw water from the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) and draws it from the Vaal Dam, supplied by the Katse, Sterkfontein, Grootdraai and Woodstock Dam. It is then filtered and cleaned at two purification plants. The largest of these is Zuikerbosch, which includes one of the largest purification plants in the Southern Hemisphere.
During purification, 600 to 1 000 tons of fine silt are removed from the river water daily and 9 000 tons of slaked lime are used in the purification process each month. After cleaning and disinfecting, the raw water is delivered to Local Authorities reservoirs and Rand Water reservoirs for domestic, industrial and public use by about 10 million people in a 18 000 km2 supply area.