Rand Water update: Affected reservoirs have recovered

Joburg Water assured residents the city’s water woes are a thing of the past, after Rand Water was forced to carry out maintenance on the B5, B11 and B19 pipelines last week.

Rand Water maintenance update

Low pressure despite repairs

Reservoirs in parts of Johannesburg and surrounding areas were still “very low” on Thursday, but Rand Water assured residents it would recover in time. 

With the low pressure problem persisting on Friday, two days after maintenance was completed, the situation still seemed dire.

Rand Water and Johannesburg Water met to “ascertain the extent of the current water outages” affecting Johannesburg. 

Reservoirs recovered

Disruptions to the city’s water then improved when Rand Water was forced to implement what it called “load shifting” – by moving water from healthy systems to struggling reservoirs.

Joburg Water spokesperson Eleanor Mavimbela said all other reservoirs and towers impacted during the maintenance period “have recovered and are supplying areas at normal capacity”.

She said alternate water supply was focused on the Hursthill supply zone, where some problems persist. However, mobile tankers have been made available to assist residents.

Hurtshill mobile tankers

Mobile tankers can be found in the following areas:

• NewClare,
• Westbury,
• Claremont,
• Coronationville,
• Sophiatown,
• Westdene

B19 Pipeline Augmentation Project

Rand Water previously week announced its planned shut down of the B11 and B19 pipelines from 15 to 17 November 2021, as part of the B19 Pipeline Augmentation Project.

“The shutdown [was] final leg of this program that will increase the volumes of the B19 pipeline and therefore ensure a sustainable supply of water to the consumers,” said Rand Water at the time.

According to the utility, the B19 pipeline had limited usage as it was only fully connected to the B5 pipeline before the tie-in, and is now integrated to the B5, B11 and B19 pipelines.

Additional reporting by Siyanda Ndlovu