Africa-Press – South-Africa. Johannesburg mayor Dada Morero has urged residents to limit “harvesting water” as parts of the city continue to battle with inconsistent supply and failing reservoirs.
Speaking during a media briefing on Monday, Morero said the city was working “around the clock” to address widespread pipe leaks, illegal water connections and low reservoir levels which have left several communities without water.
“We’re also saying to the communities, if you can, reduce harvesting of water because it also affects the reservoir, because once you harvest it still does not help us to respond to the water demand.”
The mayor visited the Alexandra Reservoir, one of the hardest-hit facilities, and admitted burst pipes and illegal connections continued to drain the system.
“We are here as a result of concerns that we are addressing about water supply, especially in wards 66, 65 and 118, which have been battling with the supply of water for the past few days.”
Morero said reservoir levels needed to kept at 50% to enable stable supply.
“We’re trying our best to get the reservoir to 50% so we can supply water easily. However, it requires a broader management of water supply in Johannesburg to allow this reservoir also to get to the levels we want it to get to.”
The city has committed to replacing old pipes and clamping down on illegal connections that place added strain on the system. Morero said additional water tankers would be deployed to the most affected communities.
“We are now providing about six [tankers] in this area or the areas that are supplied by this reservoir. We’re going to increase those to 10 so that we can try to alleviate the challenges of our communities on the supply of water.”
A public meeting with residents was scheduled for Friday to provide “concrete reports” on progress.
Last week residents of Westbury and Coronationville took to the streets in protest after days without water.
Despite reassurances, many residents expressed frustration, questioning the city’s ability to deliver.
On Facebook, Hamilton Jacobs wrote: “Your teams are working ‘around the clock’ for the past 31 years.”
On X, Gregory Gravett criticised the mayor’s remarks about harvesting: “Joburg doesn’t ‘harvest’ water, mayor. Rand Water pumps it from the Vaal system. Residents with tanks or boreholes reduce strain on your failing reservoirs. Telling people to ‘stop harvesting’ is like Eskom telling us to stop using solar. Clueless.”
Veteran news anchor Dan Moyane also weighed in, sharing a video message to the mayor.
“I’m speaking to you not as a politician, not as a news anchor, but as a ratepayer, a resident of Johannesburg. I pay my bills on time. I owe this city nothing, yet since Thursday my home in the northern part of Johannesburg has been without water,” he said.
Morero has apologised for the ongoing outages, saying the city is doing “everything possible” to restore supply and prevent future breakdowns.
“We plead with communities around here that we’re doing our best, we’re working around the clock to ensure that they’ve got uninterrupted supply of water and we apologise profusely for the challenges they face,” he said.
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