Africa-Press – South-Africa. Johannesburg Water is urging residents to allow its water tankers access to areas affected by the Rand Water outage.
With only a few hours left of the 58-hour planned infrastructure maintenance, many areas in Johannesburg are experiencing the anticipated disruptions to their water supply.
On Thursday afternoon, Joburg Water said the Roodepoort, Randburg, and Southdale regions were critical, and as a result, most of its alternative water supply would go to these areas.
It said residents in the Soweto and Langlaagte regions had obstructed its water tankers, and the Johannesburg Metro Police Department had to be called to the Langlaagte region on Thursday after community members blocked water tankers from entering.
“Blocking off the entity’s water trucks only amplifies the already existing water shortages and causes delays in providing water to community members,” Joburg Water stated.
“Johannesburg Water had also noted increased turnaround times for refilling water tankers at filling points. However, the entity is working at mitigating these challenges.
The entity said it had redeployed water tankers to critical areas from the Daleside system, which has recovered.
Joburg Environment and Infrastructure Services Department MMC Jack Sekwaila said residents were upset that the tankers were taking water from their area, which was also out of water, to transport to other areas.
By 16:00, Sekwaila said the water trucks were still locked in the water depot by residents and would probably remain so until enough police officers were able to help with the situation, which would likely be only after 18:00.
Maintenance at the Zwartkopjes Booster Pump Station, which supplies Johannesburg south and the CBD, has been completed. Once Rand Water has recovered its supply to the area, the Johannesburg Water infrastructure to these parts will start recovering.
The greater Randburg and Roodepoort reservoirs are empty, including the Waterval 2 and Weltevreden reservoirs supplied by the Eikenhof Booster Pump Station.
The infrastructure at the Soweto, south of Johannesburg, and Lenasia areas, supplied by the Eikenhof Booster Pump Station, is critically low to empty.
“Therefore, there is a high demand for alternative water supply. Hence Johannesburg Water is pleading with residents to allow water trucks to service their areas,” the entity said.
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