More than R16bn needed for Joburg's water infrastructure

Reflecting on Johannesburg's most complex water repair operation to date‚ Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba has stated that the city's "decades-long infrastructure backlog" his administration inherited amounts to "a massive R170-billion‚ of which more than R16-billion alone is required for our water infrastructure".

On Monday‚ a burst pipeline buried 35 metres under an unstable landfill in Linbro Park near Alexandra caused a water outage that lasted 2.5 days for most of the metro's north. Reservoirs as far away as Bryanston ran dry.

"Plans are currently underway to repair the burst pipe as it affected water supply which in turn affected the supply of water to reservoirs running dry.

To this effect‚ I have been informed that our reservoirs are almost filled up to full capacity and that most areas in Sandton and surrounds have their water supply back‚" said Mashaba in a statement early Friday morning. "Water tanks [will be kept] available for any areas which might still experience low or no supply of water."

The mayor added: "I would like to thank residents for their understanding at this time.

As a resident of the Sandton area myself‚ I too am affected‚ and I understand the frustration of being without water."

He warned residents that they are not out of the woods yet: "Due to the severity of not only this long-term challenge‚ but also the immediate challenge of repairing the massive leak‚ I ask for resident’s patience as we steadily work to not only fix this leak‚ but also tend to all other necessary maintenance requirements.

"Due to the severity of this leak‚ I must forewarn residents that more water outages are to be expected‚ as we are discovering new leaks while we repair the current ones.

"The decades-long neglect of infrastructure maintenance means there is still a huge mountain to climb to effectively address our city’s ageing roads and traffic challenges."