Johannesburg Water operations manager Gugulethu Quma said restoration efforts have started to restore water supply to Midrand residents.
“It will take us about three days to stabilise the entire system, but it doesn’t mean customers will only get water after three days,” he said.
Speaking on 94.7, Quma said while three days is a projection, gradual water restoration has begun in parts of Midrand.
“Some customers will receive water today and tomorrow some will have poor pressure as we are stabilising the system. We are projecting the next three days will give us a comfortable level to supply Midrand.”
At a media briefing on Tuesday, Johannesburg mayor Dada Morero said the disruption was triggered by a power outage on January 26 that caused a leak and power failure at the Zuikerbosch water treatment plant, followed by a burst pipe.
The incident affected one of the largest reservoirs supplying parts of Johannesburg and the Tshwane metros, resulting in some residents not having water for six days.
Midrand has been growing. If you look at the horizon of the next 10 years, we are going to see developments within Midrand. If you look at the past 30 years, Midrand has grown substantially. That tells you that as far as infrastructure is concerned, we should be building more reservoirs.”
— Gugulethu Quma, Joburg Water operations manager
Quma said high demand and system constraints were affecting supply.
“We are trying to restore. As of this morning we are starting to see gradual improvement. We started to open water at our Erand reservoir and we are looking at Diepsloot, but most of the systems within Midrand are struggling and battling to receive water because there is generally high demand and draw-off as we stabilise the system,” he said.
Morero, accompanied by city officials, visited the Midrand reservoirs on Tuesday morning. Johannesburg Water later confirmed four of the five affected reservoirs, namely Erand, Diepsloot, Rabie and President Park, had been opened in a controlled manner to support system recovery.
Low-lying areas are expected to receive water first, while residents in high-lying areas may experience delays.
The Grand Central reservoir remains closed because levels are too low to sustain supply to dependent areas including Munyaka, Glen Austin and Waterfall.
Quma acknowledged Midrand’s rapid growth has placed increasing strain on existing infrastructure.
“Midrand has been growing. If you look at the horizon of the next 10 years, we are going to see developments within Midrand. If you look at the past 30 years, Midrand has grown substantially,” he said.
“That tells you that as far as infrastructure is concerned, we should be building more reservoirs.”
He said additional infrastructure projects were under way and planned for the coming years.
“On the Erand side we are adding a tower there, and there are reservoirs scheduled to be constructed in the next five to 10 years.”
TimesLIVE
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