Water supply and utilization in Johannesburg, 1886-1905
Date
2015-01-15
Authors
Cosser, Elaine Margaret
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Abstract
This dissertation demonstrates that supply and non-supply of water
significantly affected Johannesburg's early development.
The introductory chapter examines the singularity of Johannesburg with
regard to water sources, and the dearth of material addressing this
subject. The second chapter considers the rapid transition from an ad hoc
to a formal privatized water supply system in the context of the political
and economic climate of the Transvaal; the discussion centres on the
profiteering of water companies and the concomitant inadequacy of supply,
which had a detrimental effect on industry and health. The third chapter
depicts the emergence of local government and its attempts to improve the
water supply, demonstrating that the powerlessness of the local state
enabled an inferior supply to persist. An examination of the British
authority's structural reorganization of municipal and water affairs in
the wake of the Tueede Vryhejdsoorlog, and the limited effectiveness of
these measures owing to the dilapidation of the supply system concludes
the argument.