Rand Water expects to restore supply across Joburg on Wednesday

JOHANNESBURG - Joburg’s Rand Water says it expects there won’t be any dry taps by the end of Wednesday.

This comes as the water utility concludes its scheduled 86-hour maintenance work.

Some residents and businesses in parts of the metro spent the scorching weekend without fresh water amid the shutdown of the Zwartkoppies and Eikenhof pump stations.

The utility has since completed its work on both pump stations.

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But water is yet to be fully restored to all the affected areas in the city.

Rand Water spokesperson Makenosi Maroo says water pressure is expected to pick up gradually on Wednesday.

“The intention that we had, we were hoping that by today [Wednesyda] everyone will have water. So we are pushing that by the end of today, everyone will have water.”

While there were no major setbacks in the maintenance plan Maroo says the water utility will address any further delays that arise after Wednesday.

“If still it’s not happening then we will have to go back and see where we went wrong but the project went very well, we’re even ahead of schedule so we’ll have to check what is happening.”

SLOW RELEASE

To avoid damaging vital infrastructure Joburg Water said it had no choice but to allow its system to slowly release water back into its pipes. 

The process has increasingly frustrated residents in several parts of the city whose taps are still dry, two days after access was meant to return to normal. 

Over the weekend, the utility conducted maintenance work at the Eikenhof and Zwaartkoppies pump stations, causing an 86-hour shutdown in the CBD, Roodepoort and Soweto. 

Joburg Water managing director Ntshavheni Mukwevho said reservoirs including Crosby, Crown Gardens and Linden were still inactive. 

“Some of them we have opened them but opened them partially, what do I mean by that, we have opened the valve above 50% residents within that particular zone especially those in those low-lying areas will be getting water. It is only the high-lying areas that may still struggle while we are working on increasing the issue of the reservoir.”