Residents around Sophiatown and surrounding areas suffered their fifth day without water on 12 November.
Water has been out since 7 November. Joburg Water spokesperson David Sibiya said, “The Brixton, Crown Garden and South Hills towers are running dry due to demand outstripping the supply from Rand Water.”
Rossmore resident René van Niekerk said, “Residents waited for more than two hours on the corner of Guilford and Collins streets, where there were water tanks but no water in the tanks.” He added that the whole area was affected, including Campus Square, Helen Joseph Hospital and the University of Johannesburg. “Even mothers were waiting on the corner for water so that they could feed their babies,” said van Niekerk.
https://twitter.com/Jessie_Smith/status/664696865217204225
The affected areas, which are supplied by the Brixton Water Tower, were Brixton, Auckland Park, Crosby, Fordsburg, Westbury, Claremont and Coronationville. Affected areas from the Crown Gardens Water Tower were Winchester Hills, Robertsham, Ormonde, Ridgeway and Crown Gardens.
Water tankers were placed at Crown Gardens Clinic, corner of Linmerick Street and Rifle Range Road, and Corner of Mel and Donnington streets. Joburg Water spokesperson David Sibiya further explained,”The South Hills and Lynne Meyer areas are supplied directly from Rand Water. JW has dispatched water tankers.”
Sibiya added that water tankers were placed in Brixton Recreation Centre, corner Guilford and Collins streets, Hugenote Primary School, corner of Cruden Bay Road and Glenside Street, corner of California Street and Moira Avenue, Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital and at Helen Joseph Hospital.
@Abramjee a lie parts of Sophiatown, Newlands, Claremont and Melville have no water since Monday still no tankers
— ☆Dina Dadswell☆ (@DadswellD) November 11, 2015
@jhbwater Water tankers promised for Sophiatown last night did not arrive! #JWaterLiesMustFall
— jhbSKotze (@jhbward86) November 11, 2015
Ward 87 Councillor Amanda Forsythe said that the water outages in suburbs like Melville, Greenside, Emmarentia, Parktown West, Brixton, Westdene and surrounding areas were not a result of the City of Joburg moving into Level 2 water restrictions, even though the lack of water at the moment did play a part.
She added that South Africa is a water-scarce country where droughts are common, “If we do not manage our water resources more carefully, we will be in for much more of what we have experienced.”
Ward 86 councillor Steve Kotzé also commented, “There is a problem, especially in higher lying areas like Sophiatown where we have flats that use tanks that use pressure to pump the water to the top.” He further explained that due to the lack of water, the tanks have become empty.
Sophiatown Neighbourhood Watch chairperson Dauw Steyn commented that water came back on 11 November for three to four hours in the evening, but went off afterwards. “School children from Laerskool Generaal Christiaan de Wet were sent home on 12 November because of the water outages,” said Steyn.
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