Africa-Press – South-Africa. Almost 150 additional water tanks and 65 additional water trucks have been deployed to offer Johannesburg residents relief during a 58-hour planned water shutdown.
“The Johannesburg Metro Police Department is assisting our Soweto depot in providing security for water tankers to ensure water is delivered safely to Soweto communities,” Johannesburg Water spokesperson Nombuso Shabalala said.
“We further plead with residents to allow Johannesburg Water to refill water tankers and not block or stop this essential process.”
The 58-hour water shutdown started on Tuesday evening and is expected to be in place until the early hours of Friday morning. It will allow the bulk water supplier to install two valves as part of maintenance.
The outage impairs five booster stations, which help pump water from Rand Water’s reservoirs to the reservoirs that feed suburbs.
Meanwhile, the provincial health department said measures were in place to ensure uninterrupted services at health facilities during the outage.
The interruption affects Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital, Lenasia South Hospital, Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital, South Rand Hospital, Bheki Mlangeni District Hospital and Helen Joseph Hospital, as well as a number of clinics in Johannesburg, Gauteng health department spokesperson Motalatale Modiba said.
“All the hospitals currently have a supply of water through tankers, with Rahima Moosa and Helen Joseph having trucks permanently pumping water to the facilities’ reservoir and roof tanks, respectively.
“Helen Joseph also has a high-pressure pump to boost the water movement to the upper floors in the facility. The clinics have storage tanks and will be regularly supplied with water by Johannesburg Water,” he said.
Modiba said services were continuing at the facilities, albeit with reduced pressure.
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