The application of space technology and the challenges of managing water infrastructure in a selected South African municipality

Abstract

The installation of water infrastructure in cities poses a challenge to communities, municipalities, and installation contractors. These challenges range from the inaccessibility of streets, the community’s limited access to homes, traffic jams, deep trenches with few or no barricades, leaking water pipes, water supply cut-offs, electricity supply cut-offs, vandalism, and theft of water pipes and accessories. The research problem, therefore, revolves around a better understanding of these water infrastructural problems, how to mitigate such problems caused by inadequate planning, leading, organising, controlling, and coordination by management, arising from various technical aspects of water infrastructure. The need for this study arises from the inconvenience and dangers experienced by communities with heaps of materials lying around causing disturbances to traffic flow, open hazardous trenches becoming dangerous to children playing in their vicinity, vehicle accidents because of the trenches, and damaged kerbs. The study aimed to investigate the challenges of managing water infrastructure in a selected South African municipality to find possible ways to resolve such challenges with the help of space technology. The study achieved the objectives, namely, to identify the challenges experienced by the municipality during and after the installation of water infrastructure; to rank the importance of the experienced challenges; to explore the root causes of the challenges experienced during the installation of water infrastructure; to identify how space technology can help with the management of water infrastructure; to develop a framework of the challenges and the causes; and, to explore water management strategies with the effort of finding possible ways to resolve the challenges. The study was exploratory and applied mixed methods research methodology. Data was collected via a survey (402 City of Tshwane residents), in-depth interviews (20 City of Tshwane managers of the Water Division), and two focus groups (7 participants per group of City of Tshwane contractor managers and contractor employees) through the convergent parallel design method. The quantitative data was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS Version 27), and the qualitative data was analysed using NVivo version 27, charts, tables, and themes. The results from the three sets of participants indicated multiple challenges related to skills deficits, management deficits, political interference, and inexperienced staff in the water infrastructure division. The findings indicated knowledge, ability and performance gaps in human resources, management, technical skills, financial management, socio-politics, and legal frameworks. The study contributed new knowledge to systems theory regarding the policies, systems, installation and maintenance of water infrastructure, and communication, and these aspects are supported by the findings. The application of space technology on a large scale can help the City of Tshwane fight criminal acts of vandalism and theft of infrastructure. This study found that space technology is still in its infancy in the city, and that the application of this technology requires an elevated level of education, experience and specialised technical skills to operate. This study recommended extensive investment in space technology. The study further recommended that the City of Tshwane improve human resources, training, culture, finance, operations, and control measures. The study recommended further research on the proper use of funds, the causes of community violence against the contractors doing maintenance, investigation of the delays in the procurement of services, turnaround time for the various water infrastructure activities, relationship management between the city employees and the contractors, the impact of lack of reporting by the managers and employees to the superiors in the water infrastructure division, and clearer definition of roles between municipal employees and politicians. More academic research into water infrastructure, based on the use of and relationship between water infrastructure and space technology, is warranted.