By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Johannesburg Water systems affected by the outage at Rand Water’s Eikenhof pump station on Sunday are recovering well, according to the city .
Mayor Kabelo Gwamanda, City Manager Floyd Brink, and Environment and Infrastructure Services Department MMC Jack Sekwaila joined Joburg Water officials at a press briefing in Southdale on Friday.
They gave an update on interventions to restore water following supply disruptions triggered by City Power outages on Sunday and Monday.
Affected areas include Soweto, Randburg, Roodepoort, Joburg South, and Central.
Officials have been working to address the four-day water disruptions.
Gwamanda said some improvements to the system had been registered since Wednesday but added that more time was needed for a full restoration, especially in high-lying areas.
“Our systems will take time to recover. This is because water is not like electricity; you cannot just flip a switch and it comes back on. Water goes through the 12,400 km pipeline of various systems around the City of Johannesburg.”
However, the city manager said while there had been some improvements in Soweto, Boschkop, Honeydew, and other affected areas, including Roodepoort, Linden, and Blairgowrie, were still lagging.
Thirty-five water tankers have been deployed to service affected communities, while the health department confirmed supply had been restored at most health facilities.
The water utility approached bulk water supplier Rand Water to boost recovery by pumping an additional 100 megalitres of water into the system.
“As Joburg Water, we had to approach Rand Water to start pumping an additional 100 megalitres of water in order for us to stabilise the system. We are doing this because all our systems are interconnected. It is, therefore, possible for us to augment and support one another in the recovery process,” Brink said.
Meanwhile Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu continues to engage with the City of Johannesburg on measures to ensure water supply sustainability.
The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) said a meeting was convened this week, where a detailed presentation was made by Deputy Director-General for Water and Sanitation Services Management, Dr Risimati Mathye.
The meeting was attended by the city’s Acting Executive Mayor Loyiso Masuku, Joburg Water and the Rand Water Board, amongst others.
Mathye said the city’s total average water supply/volume is 1 686 097 kilo litres per day and supplies a population of 5 866 550.
“Notwithstanding its Blue Drop score of 98.1% in 2023, the City of Johannesburg loses 46.1% of the water supplied to it by Rand Water,” Mathye said.
Other challenges noted include an increase in the frequency of water main bursts, the reduction of water storage capacity due to leaking and isolation of reservoirs, and water theft via illegal connections in informal settlements, among others.
Mchunu said the persistent water supply challenges in Johannesburg are of great concern and negatively reflect on all the stakeholders in the sector.
“It requires us to continue engaging on measures to completely address them. The projects required are seemingly easily identifiable, but there are funding constraints that we need to address and resolve,” the Minister said.
A follow-up meeting has been scheduled for 18 March 2024.