Panic over water cut proves unfounded

Baths, buckets and bottles of water were filled and set aside on Saturday in preparation for water cuts in several Johannesburg and Mogale City suburbs.

But most of the emergency reserves were left untouched because Rand Water was able to do maintenance on its Eikenhof pump station, south of Johannesburg, without a water-supply cut.

Rand Water spokesman Justice Mohale said the maintenance was completed yesterday morning.

He said consumers were minimally affected by the maintenance work because water continued to be pumped into the system while the work was under way but at reduced pressure.

In September a power outage at one of the Rand Water pumping stations resulted in disruption of water supply in various parts of Gauteng.

The situation was exacerbated by cable theft, leaving a number of areas in Johannesburg without water.

A member of a residents' association in Randburg who stored water in anticipation of a cut in supply said he had had to throw the water into his swimming pool.

Mohale blamed last weekend's panic on "inaccurate reporting by the media" that suggested that the taps would run dry.

• Johannesburg Water tweeted yesterday that water disruptions south of Johannesburg were due to Eskom load-shedding.

"We had problems with pumping water into the reservoir due to load-shedding. The team is on site to restore the water supply."