Water outages are the new norm in Joburg and will be for a while

There is no quick fix and everyone is going to have to save water

With strained water systems across Johannesburg combined with higher temperatures, residents are likely to continue experiencing water outages, especially in high-lying areas, for a prolonged period this summer. 

Responsible water use is essential. Rand Water spokesperson Makenosi Maroo said “The three metropolitan municipalities, Ekurhuleni, Johannesburg and Tshwane, are exceeding their water consumption allocations.”  

This week, Killarney was hit hard by outages, with residents spending at least six days without water. Johannesburg Water has repeatedly attributed the problem to high consumption. 

Wayne Ford from the New Killarney-Riviera Association said water started flowing in their area on Tuesday evening and he was not sure if the problem was permanently repaired or if it was just their turn to get a bit of water before they are “watershed again”.

He said on Thursday that water was still flowing. “Hopefully that means Johannesburg Water has sorted out the underlying problem,” he said. 

Johannesburg Water spokesperson Nombuso Shabalala said supply problems at the Parktown 2 Reservoir water supply began last Friday, during which the reservoir levels took a sharp decline. 

She said this was due to the higher temperatures experienced recently, which resulted in high demand. 

She said the Parktown 2 Reservoir feeds water to the Dunkeld Reservoir and the supply at Dunkeld was also affected. She said it was a combination of factors including varying supply, high demand and the complexity of the system's recovery. 

“This affected various suburbs, including Killarney. However, the system is steadily recovering now and the water supply is stabilising. Poor pressure and intermittent supply may still occur in certain areas, particularly those that are high-lying, like Killarney,” she said. 

Shabalala added that throughout the water shortages, Johannesburg Water provides alternative supply to residents as and when necessary, and continues to do so. 

WaterCAN executive manager Ferrial Adam said the system is constrained and some reservoirs have to be shut down at night so they can fill up and people have water during the day. 

“That is something we will be experiencing for a while. I can’t give a date because we have water challenges all over the province,” she said. 

Adam said that in summer Johannesburg Water issues level 1 restrictions because of higher temperatures and an increase in demand. 

“We also have high water losses in Gauteng. Yes, we are angry, we are frustrated that there are a lot of leaks and burst pipes and it seems as if Joburg Water is not responding, or the municipalities are not responding, but it doesn’t mean that we can continue wasting. We have to be mindful of our water restrictions.

“In Joburg we are losing about 25% of our water through leaks and altogether about 44% to non-revenue water.”

Adam said it was a worrying situation with the ageing infrastructure.  Over many years, the government has not spent the required budget on the maintenance of water and sanitation infrastructure.

“I think we will experience more outages especially if people are not mindful of how they are using water.”

Shabalala said  different systems are throttled as and when necessary and the purpose of this was to build capacity overnight while water demand is lower."Throttling is one of the internal mitigation measures that are used to build capacity and ensure a balance and equity in all the systems in terms of water supply. Technical teams are constantly monitoring all 129 reservoirs and towers and implement the required interventions as and when necessary.

“Regarding Johannesburg’s water restrictions, customers and residents who do not abide by them can face bylaw enforcement,” she said. 

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