Rand Water has assured residents in the City of Johannesburg that water will flow into taps soon
The supply of water to the reservoirs in the west Johannesburg suburbs of Hursthill, Crosby and Brixton has improved, and the supply of water as of Tuesday morning was sufficient for requirements, according to Johannesburg Water.
“Supply has been stabilised, and signs of improvement have been seen measured by the Hursthill reservoir as it is in high-lying areas,” the water utility’s managing director Ntshavheni Mukwevho told a media briefing.
Johannesburg Water had previously announced that those suburbs supplied by the Eikenhof system were experiencing low to no water supply because of power outages.
The Mail & Guardian reported earlier this month that repeated and prolonged load-shedding by state power utility Eskom in recent weeks have affected Rand Water’s reservoir pumps, particularly in Johannesburg.
On Tuesday Tshifularo Mashava, the chief executive of the City of Johannesburg’s energy services company City Power, said it was working with Johannesburg Water to ensure that there is no interruption to supply of the resource by exempting reservoirs from load-shedding.
Tuesday’s briefing came after representatives of the major metros in Gauteng province met Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu on Monday over concerns about water outages and restrictions.
In a statement Mchunu said he would temporarily increase the bulk water allocation to Rand Water as an emergency measure to deal with the water shortages in Gauteng metros, districts and local municipalities.
“This should bring relief to some metros, namely Johannesburg, Tshwane and Mogale City district municipality. However, the measure is for a period of nine months while we seek more permanent solutions to water usage and management,” said Mchunu.
City of Johannesburg mayor Dada Morero said the city had committed to raising capital for upgrading its water infrastructure.
“We are hoping to raise as much as R10-billion to help us address the entire infrastructure problem or challenges in Johannesburg,” he said.