LOW AND DRY
Gauteng under ‘severe strain’ as power cuts hit water supply systems
Johannesburg Water is urging residents to use water sparingly despite the recent heatwave. It says ‘infrastructure challenges’ and continued rolling blackouts mean Rand Water cannot run its pumps and the city’s reservoirs are reaching critically low levels.
There is no end in sight for the Gauteng water crisis, with water reserves remaining low or empty because of power cuts and increased consumption because of the hot weather.
Johannesburg Water said in a statement on Saturday, 28 January, that it was “monitoring severely strained water reservoirs and towers”. It urged people to use water sparingly, especially during the day.
The water utility has said rolling blackouts and increased usage because of the heatwave have led to strained reserves and infrastructure challenges.
On Sunday, 29 January, Johannesburg Water said a power failure at Eikenhof Pumping Station had reduced levels at several Rand Water reservoirs, and had affected towers in Florida, Honeydew, Linden and other areas.
It said it was waiting on City Power to restore power to the transformers that supply the pumping station.
Ongoing power cuts also led to reservoirs not filling up to sufficient levels. This, in turn, affects the pressure in the distribution pipe network. The low pressure can lead to higher-lying suburbs experiencing reduced supply or no water at all.
The Brixton and Crosby reservoirs were “critically low”, with Hursthill being low to empty. Water tankers “were being arranged” for customers in higher-lying areas, Sunday’s statement said.
Restrictions
“To maintain a steady water supply, we urge residents to please observe Level 1 water restrictions and reduce consumption,” Johannesburg Water said. “Level 1 water restrictions prohibit the use of hosepipes between 6am and 6pm, and the use of hosepipes for paved areas and driveways. Customers are encouraged to use grey water to irrigate or water gardens, wash cars, or clean driveways.”
Bongani Tshuma, the manager of Auto Wax car wash in Melville, said they had opted for a borehole and tank system to avoid the water challenges.
“The water used to wash cars goes into a drain and is pumped through and put back into the tank. We realised water would be a challenge. Despite this, we have to stop when there is load shedding because the pumps can’t work,” he said.
Businesses in the Melville-Auckland Park area that rely heavily on water use, such as hair salons, closed earlier because of the water challenges.
Tshwane ‘water outages’
Reservoir levels in some areas of Tshwane have dropped as low as 2.8% in some areas. The city said it has dispatched water tankers to areas experiencing water outages.
Tshwane spokesperson Selby Bokaba said on Sunday that because there was no overnight supply from Rand Water to the Garsfontein reservoir on Saturday, the level of the reservoir had dropped to 23%.
“The city has requested the water utility to channel more water to the reservoir. Elardus Park reservoir is at 53%, which is comforting, while Mooikloof has slightly improved overnight from 16% to 21%… At this stage, the Grootfontein reservoir is battling to recover — it is at 2.8%. The water utility’s Bronberg reservoir that supplies Lombardy, Shere AH, Silver Lakes as well as parts of Mamelodi East improved overnight, and is currently at 40%.”
Read more in Daily Maverick: “Exempt public hospitals from rolling blackouts, health professionals plead”
Gauteng MEC for Health and Wellness Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko conducted an oversight visit to Kalafong Provincial Tertiary Hospital in Atteridgeville at the weekend.
The hospital has been severely affected by the water outages in the area.
Gauteng Health Department spokesperson Motalatale Modiba said water outages had led to the hospital’s two reservoirs running extremely low.
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“Contingency measures include increasing the number of water tankers bringing water to the facility and the frequency of supply to keep operations going,” Nkomo-Ralehoko said.
“Already about 60,000 litres have been delivered to the facility. There is provision to make water available for the patients across the wards and we will continue to monitor the situation in Tshwane closely.”
Johannesburg Water has been urging residents to use water sparingly, with rolling blackouts proving to be a long-standing challenge.
Umgungundlovu municipality in KwaZulu-Natal has had similar challenges with low reserves, as has the Western Cape. MC/DM
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More ANC genius at play. Zero interest in fixing water leaks timeously, zero maintenance, zero planning. It’s not like loadshedding is something new. A backup power supply (solar would be perfect) could have been implemented easily over the past 15 years but you need competent people for this and sadly we have few to none in the water department (or any other department for that matter). It’s one thing to restrict water usage when there’s a drought but in the middle of the rainy season………..