Water tankers bring relief after week-long outages in parts of Joburg

JOHANNESBURG - Residents in Westbury have said the water tankers provided by Joburg Water have brought some relief following week-long water outages.

However, many are calling for more tankers to be placed throughout the community, saying the current supply is not enough to meet everyone’s needs.

The affected areas include Westbury, Westdene, Coronationville and surrounding communities

On Friday, Joburg Water deployed 15 water tankers to Westbury and surrounding areas, while committing to fully restoring the water supply in the coming days.

The entity has also reduced water supply in other parts of the city to help raise water levels in the reservoirs feeding the affected areas.

This follows week-long outages, which the water utility attributes to ageing infrastructure and low reservoir levels.

“The community is in need of a lot of water, so people don’t come with just one 5 litre bucket; some come with five, six buckets. Some of them are using the Pikitup bins, and the people are desperate because washing hasn’t been done, people haven’t cleaned their houses or bathed,” said a Westbury resident, Sainy van Zyl.

Joburg Water said the community’s demand for water exceeds what it can supply.

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