Rand Water interruption resulted in dry weekend for Tshwane residents

Residents in Tshwane had to wash out of buckets and buy water to cook after a weekend without water was experienced across many parts of the city.

Last week, various reservoirs ran low and taps ran dry around Pretoria, following a water supply interruption to fix a major water leak and power interruptions from Eskom to Rand Water.

Frustration

An Elarduspark resident, Keneilwe Mmusinyane, said they were without water since Saturday evening. “We are frustrated.

We had to buy extra water and went to a friend’s house in Brooklyn to get water,” he said. Mmusinyane said the most challenging parts were flushing toilets and bathing.

“I bathed in a bucket with a cloth,” he said. Mmusinyane said running a household of five, including a toddler, without water was challenging.

“Washing dishes was also challenging as our area is full of insects. If you leave dishes for a minute, the sink will be full of insects,” said.

According to Mmusinyane, when they fetched water from a friend’s house, he did not realise that the container didn’t close properly.

“My car boot was full of water. I learnt through my son that there’s a valve-like thing or plug to open so that water can drain. The car smells like a dead dog now.”

A concerned resident, who agreed to speak anonymously due to his position at work, described the weekend without water as a terrible experience.

“It went off on Friday afternoon for the second time in a week. It was also off on Thursday without any warning,” he said.

The resident said they still didn’t have water and heard it could take a few days before the water returned to his area. “I bathed in basins. We couldn’t shower. At least my pool water is coming in handy to flush the toilets,” he said.

READ MORE: Water crisis: Tankers deployed to affected areas in Tshwane

Rand Water weighs in

Rand Water spokesperson Makenosi Maroo said the restoration of power at Rand Water’s Mapleton Booster Station was completed.

“The re-energising process started at 1.05am on Sunday and by 2.30am the booster station had achieved full pumping capacity.

“This marks a significant milestone in our efforts to ensure that water supply was fully restored,” said Maroo. There won’t be an immediate relief in the water supply system.

“The system will require a recovery period of up to one week to fully stabilise,” said Maroo MMC for utilities and regional operations Themba Fosi said the city has prioritised restoring water to affected households.

“We expect reservoir levels to improve throughout the day and overnight and we will continue monitoring the situation. In the interim, we have deployed water tankers to the affected areas.

“We have increased the provision of tankers from Sunday to Monday and will work to ensure that there is suitable provision until the situation resolves,” he said.

He said the city’s network took an extended time to restore water provision to all customers, especially those in high-lying areas.

“Water has been flowing to the reservoirs since Sunday, but with high water usage during the day, our reservoirs normally only make significant recovery overnight.

“We have seen water supply return to low-lying areas and are working to restore sufficient supply in our reservoirs to get supply to high-lying areas,” Fosi said.

ALSO READ: ‘Low to no water supply’ alert issued for these parts of Tshwane

– marizkac@citizen.co.za