Joburg Water systems improving due to interventions over past 24 hours

Johannesburg Water says its systems have shown much improvement over the past 24 hours due to interventions put in place. 

Briefing the media on Tuesday, Johannesburg Water's acting general manager of operations Logan Munsamy said closing reservoir outlets between 8pm and 4am and restricting inflows to some reservoirs helped boost pressure to other reservoirs that require more inflows. 

“The levels are on an upward trajectory. Sandton system is looking very stable this [Tuesday] morning, which is positive news. There should be isolated cases of no water to poor pressure. That is predominantly because the reservoir outlets in Bryanston and Illovo, which were previously throttled, are now fully open,” he said. 

Munsamy said they were using a combination of interventions on the entire water network. This included closing inlets and closing or throttling reservoir outlets to build capacity for the day and shifting water to other areas which are on low levels.

“These are snapshots of some reservoirs that we are manipulating, where we are closing inlets and outlets and bypasses to boost the system.

“These are some of the initiatives we are taking to make sure reservoirs are at an acceptable level and water is shifted where it is very much needed,” he said. 

Systems update

The Commando system, which feeds the Hursthill, Crosby and Brixton reservoirs, has been enjoying good incoming flows. Munsamy said there is an upward trajectory in those reservoirs.

“That system is looking much better, it is showing a positive upward movement. Crosby reservoir is at 32%, Brixton is at 70%, on an upward trajectory, and the tower is at 88%, and Hursthill reservoir is looking a little better today.”

He said the areas fed from these systems are relatively stable but due to demand and depending on weather conditions, this could change. 

South Hills tower system was at 55% capacity in the tower and feeding the supply zones as normal. Alexandra Park reservoir, one of those where Johannesburg Water was closing outlets between 8pm and 4am, was stable at 45%.

Munsamy said the Eagle Nest reservoir was low on Tuesday at 10% due to high demand, while the Berea reservoir system was sitting at 65% and feeding the area as per normal. 

Over the past few days the Sandton area has been experiencing water shortages but Johannesburg Water said the levels have improved significantly, with Linbro Park on 58%, Marlboro reservoir at 77%, Morningside at 80% and Bryanston 38%. 

“We are diverting a lot of flows into the Bryanston reservoir system. It has gone low overnight and we are picking up during the day. The Illovo reservoir system, which was quite low to empty, has recovered significantly over the past two days and is sitting at 90% full and the tower at 40%.”

Blue Drop report 

Johannesburg Water was rated among the best-performing water service institutions for drinking water quality supply in the 2023 Blue Drop report.  

Munsamy said the results give it confidence and their customers know they are running their water utility in a very efficient manner. 

“It also gives assurances that the quality of the water consumed by residents is of high standards and is compliant with the national standard for water quality. It also gives assurance to our stakeholders and shareholders that we are going in the right direction. 

“We are efficiently running our utility. Those are some benefits of the Blue Drop certification that is benchmarked across all the municipalities in South Africa.”

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