Community fuming as water reservoirs run dry in parts of Tshwane

Tshwane is appealing to Rand Water to increase its bulk supply to the city to stabilise its network, and to residents to reduce their water use to help vulnerable areas.

“Reservoirs that supply the areas are critically low and some areas have no water,” said MMC for utility services Phillip Nel.

The Laudium, Atteridgeville, Kosmosdal, Mnandi and Olievenhoutbosch water supply systems have not stabilised after Rand Water attended to leak repairs on September 16.

Laudium Ward 61 councillor Farouk Essop said: “The community is fed up because no-one can give a proper answer as to why we don't have water. Rand Water blames Tshwane and Tshwane blames Rand Water, and that has been going on all the time.

“No-one wants to take responsibility,” he said.

Essop said the community had been without water since Monday morning. “Last week Friday we had no water, it came back and now it has gone out again. We have absolutely no water in the area.”

Nel said the city’s leadership had approached Rand Water for assistance.

“Simply put, the supply from Rand Water is inadequate to refill the reservoirs. If this continues our reservoirs will run dry.

“We will continue to engage with Rand Water, but until and unless something changes in their ability to supply water, all of Tshwane needs to work together to save water, so the existing supply can cover all our residents.”

TimesLIVE is reaching out to Rand Water. This article will be updated once a response is received.

Nel said the city would be urgently co-ordinating a strategy session to determine the best way to reduce water consumption across the affected areas.

“We need to make sure that we all use less water so that no area goes without. We will also continue prioritising the repair and maintenance of our aged water network.

“The administration has made repair, maintenance and upgrading of the water and electricity networks a priority, as years of neglect have left the system in a poor state. However, this will take time and resources,” Nel said.

He said in the interim, water tankers would be dispatched by the city to the affected communities, as they urgently work to restore supply.

“It is important to understand that Rand Water is a separate entity from the City of Tshwane and is a state-owned entity overseen by the national department of water & sanitation,” he said.

Nel called on Tshwane residents to save water where possible.

“Take a shower instead of a bath. Don’t fill your swimming pool and limit watering of gardens. We all need to pull together to help those areas that are vulnerable,” he said.

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