Heat wave and power outages hit Joburg water supplies

‘Use water sparingly’ is the advice from bulk water supplier Rand Water after large areas of Johannesburg and Tshwane were hit with interrupted supplies in recent weeks.

A week ago Rand Water reported a power failure in the engine room at its Zuikerbosch Water Treatment Works, which supplies water to the Eikenhof and Mapleton booster pump stations.

Rand Water says its reservoir capacity has dropped from 52% to 38% due to high demand, prompting the implementation of water restrictions.

Some parts of the city around Dainfern and Diepsloot have suffered months of on-off water supply, with some parts going weeks without any water.

The outage at the Zuikerbosch plant affected 19 regions in the broader Joburg area, from Soweto to the Joburg CBD and Honeydew. Also impacted were large parts of Ekurhuleni and Tshwane.

Read: Joburg can no longer rely on its water supply [Sep 2021]

Reservoirs low but dam full

Rand Water blamed recent high temperatures, as well as load shedding, as contributing factors to the water shortages.

This is despite the Vaal Dam – the major source of water feeding the broader Gauteng area – being 94.1% full, compared with 83% at the same time a year ago.

On Thursday, Johannesburg Water warned residents that reservoirs and towers supplying water to various parts of the city are “critically low to empty” due to the implementation of Stage 2 restrictions. The Naturena reservoir feeding Soweto is at low levels, as are several other reservoirs around the city.

“Customers are urgently requested to reduce water consumption, as this will assist with recovering constrained systems. While customers in lower lying areas may still have water, other customers in higher lying areas are without supply,” tweeted Johannesburg Water.

Johannesburg Water Alert: Stage 2 water restrictions #JoburgUpdates ^K pic.twitter.com/9JKndAaQsL

— Johannesburg Water (@JHBWater) October 6, 2022

Planned interruptions in the coming week will impact several parts of northern and western Joburg, including Sandton, Morningside, Parkmore and Protea Glen.

Read: What it’s like to live in a city without water

Stage 2 restrictions prohibit the use of municipal water for gardening (hosepipes are allowed before 6am and after 6pm), filling swimming pools (other than for top-ups sufficient to allow pool pumps to operate), and for washing of cars and paved areas.

Making a plan

Reduced water pipe pressure at two hospitals – the Helen Joseph Hospital in Auckland Park and Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital in Coronationville – forced Johannesburg Water to ship in mobile tankers to guarantee continuous supply.

Joburg and Tshwane residents took to Twitter to share their stories of using bottled water for washing and drinking.

City of Joburg issued an upbeat notice on Thursday, saying residents “can now expect to receive a regular supply of water as the reservoirs start to fill up”.

Residents can now expect to receive a regular supply of water as the reservoirs start to fill up. This will remain the case for as long as Rand Water doesn’t experience any challenges on their end #JoburgServices #JoburgWorks #JoziSaveWater ^NJ pic.twitter.com/vqpdVjhGdT

— City of Joburg (@CityofJoburgZA) October 6, 2022

Johannesburg Water CEO Ntshavheni Mukwevho told eNCA that there has been high water demand due to the warm temperatures in the province, aggravated by power failures. Load shedding impacted localised water pump stations, though the more serious problem was the power supply interruption from the bulk water supplier, Rand Water.