Rand Water says it’s reducing supply to 3 cities in Gauteng

Rand Water is reducing the flow of water to three of South Africa’s biggest metropolitan areas as “higher-than-normal demand” has led to a decline in average storage below the utility’s operating minimum.

The three municipalities affected are Johannesburg, Tshwane, and Ekurhuleni, where some reservoirs “are currently below safe operating levels,” the company said in an emailed statement Friday.

Gauteng is the country’s economic hub and home to more than a quarter of the total population of about 57 million.

Rand Water’s “operating philosophy is to maintain reservoir storage levels between 60% and 80%” and the reduction “will assist with the recovery of these reservoir levels whilst managing high water consumption,” it said.