Court building hit, Sandton water meters to be shut overnight as dry taps plague Joburg

Residents in northern Johannesburg will have no water on Thursday night as Johannesburg Water will close Sandton's meters from 6pm to manage water demand which has left large parts of the city dry.

The city’s water entity has been affected by network challenges, mainly due to high demand exceeding available capacity supplied by Rand Water. Many of the city's reservoirs and water towers are running low.

While the system and pumping were “gradually improving” and some parts saw a recovery of the system, the Sandton meters will be closed overnight until Friday at 5am, Johannesburg Water said. It will then take several hours for the system to fully recover.

Areas that will be affected by the Sandton system closure include:

• Linbro Park direct feed;
• Linbro Park reservoir;
• Marlboro direct feed;
• Marlboro reservoir;
• Illovo reservoir and Illovo tower; and
• Bryanston reservoir and Bryanston tower.

“The Linbro Park and Marlboro direct feeds will be affected most during this intervention and customers fed by the Sandton system may experience poor pressure or no water overnight.”

Some residents may notice brownish water coming from their taps once the water returns, Johannesburg Water said. “This phenomenon is not uncommon and is caused by calcified mineral deposits in older pipes that generally get flushed away by letting the taps run for a little while. It is no cause for concern.

“Allowing the taps to run for a short while also allows trapped air to escape, which sometimes worsens the loosening up of calcified mineral deposits.”

The water woes have again extended to the Johannesburg high court, which had to temporarily close on Thursday.

The office of the chief justice said the courts were to closed from 11am. “Affected parties will be contacted regarding alternative arrangements for all matters scheduled on the court roll for the day. We apologise for the inconvenience.”

Last year, the Constitutional Court could not physically preside over matters in court due to unreliable water supply to its buildings. It was also found that the court’s water system had leaks which affected supply, while the court relied on water tankers for ablution facilities.

Hussain Mathebula, a resident of Bezuidenhout Valley in ward 66, has been without water for three weeks. He said residents had not heard a word from the city or their councillor so use the load-shedding app, Eskom se Push, for daily updates. 

“When we ask the water tanker drivers they say they don't know the cause and are just told to come to the area. The issue is, the water tankers use the main road and I have to walk uphill for about six blocks in a hilly area several times a day to get water. I live next to a community hall and no-one has called a meeting to tell us what's going on,” he told TimesLIVE.

Residents in Kensington and Cyrildene complained on social media that they have had no water for two weeks while a Mayfair user said their taps had been dry for three days.

Ward 117 councillor Tim Truluck said the city's water pipes, some which are asbestos, often burst when pressure is high. He said it is common for water to be shut off in areas such as Sandton to prevent high pressure that could lead to bursts and leaks. 

“In 2019 or 2020, the water pipes were replaced in Saxonwold and it cost R72m then. Though Saxonwold has new pipes they are linked to others and once there are one or two bursts they also don't have water for a day or half a day.

“The problem is we've passed the tipping point. Johannesburg Water must be real and tell the truth — they cannot keep up with the water supply and can't maintain guaranteed, full water to the city.” 

The city did not have the capacity or the funds to deal with water leaks and replace pipes.

He said his ward, which has five suburbs, experiences about 20 burst pipes a month. 

“It's a real problem and I don't see it being resolved. It's going to take decades to sort out. I can't see an end game now, with the current trajectory Johannesburg is going to survive as it is now with water coming through pipes and going onto the pavements [due to leaks].”

Johannesburg Water urged residents to reduce water consumption to help stabilise the water system, but by Thursday morning several water reservoirs and towers in the Commando system, the Randburg system, Central and Soweto systems and Deep South were critically low.

TimesLIVE