Joburg south water crisis ‘inhumane’ after weeks without a drop

‘I haven’t had a proper shower in days. We get a bit of water between 1am and 3am but sometimes it’s just dry,” said Johannesburg resident Rozlind Strong, whose area has experienced a water shortage for almost two weeks.

Strong, who lives in Linmeyer in the south of Johannesburg, said it’s frustrating.

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“At this point, we just want anyone to assist us, but no-one is providing answers,” she said. “We have about 300l stored in 20l bottles – more than Johannesburg Water can supply.

“That’s inhumane. We have to reuse bath water for the toilet and laundry water up to three times just to have clean clothes.”

Residents take to streets to demand water

Residents, who are supplied by the South Hills reservoir, took to the streets this week, burning tyres and demanding answers from Johannesburg Water. Yesterday marked about two weeks since Linmeyer and South Hills residents had water.

This water-less stretch followed an earlier 16 days of dry taps. Johannesburg Water issued a notice on Thursday confirming that the South Hills Tower, affecting South Hills and Linmeyer, was empty due to constrained water supply from the bulk supplier.

Angry residents, who have been have been relying on water tankers, said the update not good enough. Ward 56 and 57 councillors, Mike Crichton and Faeeza Chame, lodged a complaint with the SA Human Rights Commission on Wednesday over the ongoing water crisis in the area.

“Johannesburg Water hasn’t provided a clear estimated time of restoration, so if you combine these two outages we’re approaching nearly a month without consistent water access,” Crichton said.

“This has been an ongoing issue for at least the past four years, with lengthy outages happening at least once or twice a year.

“It’s become a full-blown humanitarian crisis.”

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Ward councillors try to resolve crisis

The ward councillors met the water entity officials on Thursday to discuss interventions for managing the shortage of water.

“We still could not get tangible solutions from the presentation. As far as we are concerned there is no end in sight. It was an overall synopsis that doesn’t answer our questions,” Crichton added.

A business owner in the area, Casa Galo, manager Nelio Pereira, said: “This is a food industry, we need water for every part of our operation.

“Using five-litre bottles to wash dishes isn’t sustainable.

“We’ve had to arrange water deliveries from our other branch to keep the business running. And we can’t rely on water tankers, they’re inconsistent.”

Another resident, Nick Joseph, slammed the utility for the lack of transparency, saying it was ducking and diving around the issue.

“Joburg water has failed to explain what was the cause. “All they tell us is that the tower is empty. But we want to know what the issue is exactly.

“We have been getting messages about pumping. However, no water is in sight.”

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Midrand and Kyalami also without water

Meanwhile, Midrand’s Grand Central and Kyalami areas have also been without water since Friday last week.

Yesterday, Johannesburg Water reported that the reservoir had begun recovering and was pumping water to the Grand Central tower, but residents disputed the claim.

In Ekurhuleni, residents have had water interruptions which the city attributed to increased demand from a recent heatwave, low reservoir levels and technical issues at a pumping station.

This was compounded by a power trip affecting Rand Water’s Palmiet system, which left several reservoirs empty and cut off water to Germiston, Thembisa, Bedfordview and Chloorkop.

Meanwhile, Sanlam on Thursday launched a back-up water solution for schools in the township, starting with a school in Meadowlands Soweto.

They supplied JoJo tanks to address the challenges of unreliable water access.

Crichton and Chame said they had put a motion together that would compel the City of Joburg administration to collaborate with national government to find a permanent solution to the South Hills Water Tower crisis.

“The motion is going before the programming meeting that determines the council agenda, and we hope they will allow it to go through to the council meeting,” Crichton said.

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