Brace yourself - City of Joburg to turn off the taps at night in some areas to reduce consumption

Residents in parts of Johannesburg will be left without water - starting on Thursday evening as the city takes drastic action to reduce consumption.

Johannesburg Water put out an alert saying that some reservoir outlet valves would be closed‚ resulting in no water supply at all in places between 8pm and 4am “until further notice”.

The targeted water restrictions are aimed at reducing “escalating water consumption” despite the recent rainfall which led to a slight increase in dam levels.

• 'If you don't turn off your taps we'll do it for you' - Water guzzlers warnedPeople who ignore water restrictions may have their supply restricted‚ says Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille. 

“The areas affected overnight would be areas around Deep South‚ Soweto‚ Central‚ Midrand‚ Sandton and Randburg‚” said Johannesburg Water in a statement.

“The targeted water restrictions to reduce escalating water consumption will start from today 20:00-04:00 until further notice. Water levels at the Integrated Vaal River system have not risen sufficiently to above satisfactory level.”

• SA’s water quality falls sharplyWater quality has deteriorated sharply‚ forcing the Department of Water and Sanitation to consider revoking the water licences of some municipalities. 

The alert was related on Johannesburg Water’s Facebook page‚ drawing some startled‚ some scathing comments from residents.

Reneé Arbuthnot spoke her mind in a post on the page. “Has Randburg not been hit enough? We still have no water as of yesterday after only getting our water back on Sunday morning after it went off on Thursday last week. You people are ridiculous indeed!”

The Water and Sanitation Department warned earlier this week that the country remained in a drought‚ despite recent rainfall in some areas.