Watershed moment for Joburg: Outage reduction and full recovery time for all areas

The dreaded 58-hour-long water outage affecting more than 220 suburbs in Johannesburg has come into force on Tuesday evening.

The major water outage due to a planned maintenance shutdown by Rand Water, is scheduled to end at 5am on Friday, 14 July. 

Johannesburg Water, which purchases water from Rand Water to dispense to the city, said the full recovery of the system after the shutdown may take up to five days or even as long as 14 days for some areas after supply has been restored.

This extended outage as the network gradually recovers, will mostly affect residents in higher lying areas. 

Rand Water maintenance project

Rand Water’s main goal with the maintenance project, is to reduce old critical water supply infrastructure breakdowns which have led to power outages and pump failures in recent months.

During the shutdown, the entity will complete a tie-in with a new pipeline, install isolation valves and upgrade Rand Water’s Eikenhof pump station.

The maintenance also includes the replacement of multiple valves at the Vereeniging water treatment plant, Eikenhof booster pumping station, Zuikerbosch water treatment plant and the Zwartkopjes system.

The last part of the project will be to work on electrical boards at Lethabo pumping station.

Reduction impact of affected areas and full recovery time span

Following a widespread outcry by panicked residents about the crippling outage, Johannesburg Water has explained that different areas will experience varying reduction percentages.

Supply won’t be cut completely in all areas, though reduced pressure could last for as long as 10 days depending on the affected area.

“Low-lying areas may have low pressure to no water, but intermittently or at irregular intervals [during maintenance]. High-lying areas will have no water at all,” Johannesburg Water spokesperson Nombuso Shabalala said.

“People living in Orange Farm and Ennerdale [serviced by] the Daleside Booster Station are least affected. Work on Daleside should be completed in eight hours,” he continued. 

“But those living in Randburg and Roodepoort, [serviced by] the Eikenhof Booster Station, will be affected for the whole 58 hours.”

Johannesburg water outage: Affected booster stations and areas

• Areas feeding from the Daleside station will have 50% of supply for eight hours from 7pm on Tuesday. It is estimated that once the work is completed, the water supply should be fully recovered by 7pm on Wednesday.

The affected areas are around Ennerdale.

• In the Zwartkopjes booster station areas supply will be reduced by 40% for 24 hours. It is estimated that once the work is completed, full recovery will take five more days until 7pm next Monday.

The affected areas are in central Johannesburg.

• In the Eikenhof booster station areas, the planned work will leave residents with a supply reduced by 24% for 58 hours from 7pm on Tuesday. The full recovery will take an estimated 10 days until 7pm on 24 July.

The Eikenhof booster is situated in the Southdale area. 

Where to find water tankers

Water tankers will be doing the rounds in affected areas, while alternative supply has been arranged at hospitals, clinics, schools, municipal offices, police stations and shopping centres.

Visit Johannesburg Water’s Twitter page for all the areas – and updates – where water tankers can be located.