Asbestos cement pipe infrastructures in Fourways areas are part of Joburg Water urgency plan
Frequent water interruptions in the Fourways areas were due to planned outages by Joburg Water.
Old asbestos cement piping in Johannesburg North and Central areas are to be replaced in an urgent short- to medium-term plan implemented by Joburg Water.
MMC for Environment and Infrastructure Services Michael Sun said a large section of piped infrastructure in areas including Craigavon, Chartwell, Bloubosrand, Maroeladal and surrounding areas are asbestos cement (AC).
“This decades-old infrastructure is simply not designed to withstand the rapid opening and closing of the water system that occurs during upgrades and routine maintenance,” he said.
Residents in Fourways and surrounds recently experienced severe water interruptions as Joburg Water attended to several planned and emergency outages.
A planned outage due to scheduled piping upgrades in Craigavon caused frequent outages in the immediate vicinity for several days due to AC pipe bursts. This piping is particularly prone to bursts in winter due to its rigidity.
Sun explained, “We understand outage to any service is a major inconvenience and even minor water stoppages are a true disaster.
“This is why we, as part of the new financial year projects, will be replacing these asbestos pipes with either UPVC (unplasticised polyvinyl chloride) or steel pipes which will bring a permanent solution to the problem. But this situation is not going to improve unless Joburg Water is given the space to upgrade these sections of the network.”
Joburg Water technical teams recently completed an assessment of problematic sections of the network with AC piping. They will be initiating an urgent project to replace these sections with PVC or steel piping in the 2022/23 year.
Sun concluded, “Work has already commenced and is being closely monitored. This replacement project is going to be rolled out urgently in the north of Johannesburg as well as other flash points like Randburg.
“The Joburg Water teams will do their best to ensure this is a seamless exercise. Johannesburg residents must please be patient as this is going to be short-term pain for long-term gain as we upgrade the water system.”
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