Several Johannesburg neighbourhoods without water for a week
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on TimesLIVE
Neighbourhoods in Johannesburg have been without water for a week, while Rand Water is operating the supply network at full capacity. The utility is calling for an immediate 15% cut in consumption to limit disruption, according to its spokesperson Makenosi Maroo, cited by TimesLIVE.
Several Johannesburg neighbourhoods have been without water for a week or longer, including Brixton, Mayfair West, Greenside, Melville, Crosby and Parktown West. Crosby and Brixton reservoirs, as well as the Brixton tower, remain at critical levels in the Commando system, according to TimesLIVE.
The outage also affects areas supplied by Hurst Hill 1 and 2 reservoirs, where leaks still need to be repaired. The recommissioning of Hurst Hill 2, initially planned for April, has been postponed to 2027 after the company responsible for the work was not paid, TimesLIVE reports.
Rand Water, Johannesburg’s bulk water supplier, has asked residents to cut their consumption by 15%, as demand has placed the network under severe pressure. Its spokesperson Makenosi Maroo also criticised municipalities’ unbilled water losses.
The municipality loses 32% of the water it buys from Rand Water because of leaks and burst pipes, with about 140 incidents reported each day. These losses cost between 3 billion and 3.8 billion rand a year, while the infrastructure investment backlog is estimated at between 26.6 billion and 64 billion rand, according to TimesLIVE.
These outages extend the warnings issued since 21 October by Rand Water about the risk of water shortages. They follow the health alerts of 22 October, including the ten water quality alerts in Johannesburg, and come as heat and increased consumption worsened the shortage on 25 October.
