MMC of Environment and Infrastructure Services Department talks water restrictions

With the water shortages in the area, the MMC of Environment and Infrastructure Services Department, councillor Anthony Still, advised what residents should expect during this time.
Still said residents of Johannesburg would have heard that Level 3 water restrictions have been implemented in Ekurhuleni as of 7 November and that the City of Tshwane was also going this route in its northern suburbs. “This involves cutting off the water supply between 9pm and 5am and Johannesburg has taken the decision to stay on Level 2 restrictions at this stage,” Still said.
“The reasons were that it was much better from an engineering point of view to keep a continuous supply in the system as this minimises bursts caused by a water hammer.”
He explained that many businesses depended on continuous 24/7 supply and having a supply available at 5am required valves to be opened much earlier. “The consequent need to then bleed the system of air as water returns – this has concomitant operational risks.”
Still said residents would be aware that Rand Water had been required to restrict supply to Johannesburg by 15 per cent. As this has happened, the latest figures show that demand has reduced by just less than 10 per cent. “Whilst this is an improvement, it is still difficult for Johannesburg Water to balance the system and we, therefore, appeal to residents to take the Level 2 restrictions seriously as we do not want to go to Level 3,” Still stressed.
“Over the last week there have been major outages in two of the supply areas. This is out of the 96 points of supply from Rand Water. As a City, we wish to apologise to the affected residents. The reservoirs in question were Corriemore and Alexander Park. Corriemore feeds Northcliff, Fairlands, Blackheath, and Berario. Alexander Park feeds Kensington, Malvern, Cleveland, Benrose, Bruma, Bezuidenhout, and Jeppestown South.”
He added that in the case of Alexander Park the cause was excessive demand causing the reservoir to run dry and there was difficulty in recovering the balance.
“Johannesburg Water has recovered supply but appeals to residents to curtail demand,” he said referring to Alexander Park. “At Corriemore the bulk supply from Rand Water ran dry and has caused a major challenge in restoring the reservoir.”
Residents are also reminded that the need to restrict the supply has reduced pressure in the system which meant that high-lying areas are more vulnerable than usual.
Still concluded that they once again apologised for the inconvenience experienced by some of the residents over the past week and were confident that Johannesburg Water and Rand Water were together overcoming the challenges attached to attaining a new system balance.
“We urge residents to adopt a public-spirited attitude in facing these challenges.”