Ageing infrastructure, vandalism: Inside Johannesburg Water Commando system

Prolonged load-shedding, ageing infrastructure and vandalism are some of the factors adding pressure to Johannesburg Water’s Commando system, resulting in water shortages and outages. 

The city’s water utility supplies 1.6-billion litres of water daily, which is procured from Rand Water, its bulk supplier. 

The water is distributed through a network of 129 reservoirs and water towers. 

The City’s Commando System, which consists of the Brixton, Hursthill and Crosby complexes, is part of the network.   

The system comprises four reservoirs, one tower and two pump stations:  

• Crosby Reservoir  
• Crosby Pump Station 
• Hursthill Reservoir 1 
• Hursthill Reservoir 2  
• Brixton Reservoir  
• Brixton Pump station 
• Brixton tower  

Commando supplies water to parts of Region B including Northcliff, Melville, Auckland Park, and parts of Randburg, and Region F including Johannesburg CBD, City Deep and the universities of Johannesburg and Witwatersrand.  

It also supplies three hospitals — Rahima Moosa Mother and Child, Helen Joseph and Garden City.  

Gugulethu Quma, a network electromechanical operator, said a growing population, ageing infrastructure, vandalism and load-shedding were putting a strain on the system.

“The challenges are that the demand is high and the available supply is quite constrained on the network.”  

During a media tour of the Commando system, Quma explained that when water is lost the system can sometimes take about a week or more to recover. 

He said during load-shedding the system usually doesn’t pump at full capacity. The Commando system needs to pump at a minimum flow rate of 2,500 litres per second to remain stable. 

He said operating the four reservoirs at the Commando system at a lower level affects high-lying areas, resulting in low water pressure or no water. 

Quma added the system is affected because it is directly fed from the Rand Water supply. When they start operating below those levels, the system becomes unstable. 

For a reservoir to function properly, it must receive at least 2,500 litres per second from Rand Water for it to continue supplying residents.  

Vandalism of infrastructure was also affecting the water supply, he said.

“We do have people tampering with our system. Despite having security and armed patrollers, there are people who try to vandalise the system and the consequences are dire.”  

He said when thieves steal infrastructure such as valves and cables, it takes time to procure replacements while residents are left without water.  

Johannesburg Water recently completed urgent interventions to improve and secure a steady water supply to the struggling Commando system. This included linking the Hursthill 1 reservoir to the Northcliff reservoir.

TimesLIVE

Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.