Tshwane watches water with no rain expected this week

Tshwane residents are being urged to use water sparingly with warm and windy conditions forecast for Gauteng, with none to little rain expected this week.

Over the weekend another spring cut-off low was the cause of the strong winds, heavy rain and very cold conditions with near gale force winds (55 to 65km/h) over the Cape provinces.

The winds were fresh to strong (30 to 50km/h) over North West, Gauteng, the Free State and western parts of KwaZulu-Natal.

Cooler weather expected in Gauteng, but no rain

South African Weather Service forecaster Amukelani Mkhari said temperatures were expected to cool slightly with little to no rain expected this week.

“No rain is expected today for Gauteng or the rest of the week,” she said.

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Mkhari said some areas were expected to drop by at least 4°C for the next few days and start to warm up again from Wednesday.

Temperatures are expected to be warm to hot. However, a significant drop in temperatures were expected in the west on Sunday, where temperatures will be cool to cold progressing over the central part of the country by Monday.

Tshwane residents urged to use water sparingly

City of Tshwane spokesperson Selby Bokaba urged residents to make a concerted effort to decrease water usage by adhering to the water restrictions. Bokaba warned that punitive measures will be imposed against transgressors as Tshwane lists the highest consuming reservoirs in the city.

“The City of Tshwane is continuing to experience an excessively high-water consumption, which is likely to put consumers at risk of having no water during the scorching summer months.

“The levels of the reservoirs and towers drop extraordinarily, from time to time,” he said.

Bokaba said the demand in most of the areas of the city was exceeding what the city can provide, compelling it to surpass the licensed amount of water it sources from Rand Water.

“The water utility is currently pumping about 800 million litres per day to Tshwane.

“It’s supposed to be pumping 662 million litres per day.

“This is about 18% more than the city’s licence agreement with the water utility,” he said.

There was high-water use from Mabopane and Atteridgeville HL reservoirs, Atteridgeville HL Reservoir, Mooikloof, Akasia and Constantia reservoirs. Bokaba said there was also high demand on the Hammanskraal, Mabopane, Soshanguve and Lotus reservoirs.

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