Burst Rand Water pipeline fully repaired, water expected to flow by Monday evening

Rand Water says it is not ruling out vandalism to its pipeline which burst over the weekend, leaving residents in Kempton Park and surrounding areas without water for most of the weekend.

The supplier, which provides water to most parts of Johannesburg, experienced a burst on its O2 pipeline on Friday. The pipeline started running dry on Saturday, leaving areas such as Kempton Park, Van Riebeeck Park, Spartan Airfield, Bedfordview, Tembisa, President Park, and Halfway House without water.

On Sunday evening, Rand Water announced that, upon accessing and inspecting the O2 pipeline, it had established that the damage was worse than initially expected.

Rand Water executive manager Eddie Singo said, by 5am on Monday morning, technicians had finished welding the pipe. He said the pipe had been cleared and water was now being allowed to flow through the line.

“That’s a 1.8m pipeline in terms of diameter and vastness of the area, so we will start seeing water being supplied in the late afternoon. The work has been done, and all that is left now is rehabilitating,” said Singo.

He said, while many other factors may have caused the burst, vandalism had not been ruled out. Singo added that it was established that there was a loose valve in the pipe.

He said Rand Water was 114 years old and had parts that were over 50 years old, but the company regularly did inspections.

“Our conditions in comparisons with many other water boards, even internationally, I think we are doing fine. The condition of Rand Water pipelines is relatively good. There is nothing more than 5% of our pipes that we are not happy with,” said Singo.

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