Johannesburg Water media tour shed light on the vital infrastructure, showcasing reservoirs and towers that supply the area of Randburg.
The tour was aimed at explaining the infrastructure serving Joburg Water’s Randburg system, along with its two critical reservoirs and water towers.
Electro-mechanical operations manager Gugulethu Quma explained that since people need water on a daily basis, they do a media tour once in every three months so they can take the infrastructure to the people.
“We want to show residents who are utilising the water every day where it goes, how it is stored, how it eventually gets here from the dams. All the reservoirs receive water from the bulk supply, which starts from Waterval to Rand Water to be purified and to Joburg Water for distribution to the customers.”
Among the sites visited in the Randburg System was the Linden 1 complex which has the reservoir and tower in one area. The tower has about 1 megalitres of storage which supplies the Linden and surrounding areas. The reservoir has about 26 megalitres capacity. Kensington B has a reservoir with 11 megalitres capacity and the tower with 0.5 megalitres capacity.
The system, totalling 71.30 megalitres in storage capacity, consists of four reservoirs and four towers interconnected within its network, operating interdependently. This includes the Linden 2 reservoir which stores 25.20 megalitres, Waterval tower stores 1.10 megalitres and Quellerina tower stores 0.30 megalitres.
All eight systems are supplied by the Rand Water’s Eikenhof system, through the extensive network and resources of the entity.
Quma explained that if they lose the supply the storages will continue supplying the residents in that zone for the next 24 hours.
“In one day, we consume an average of 35 000 megalitres and sometimes less. The Randburg system has a capacity of two days’ retention to continue supplying water to the customers. The towers do not have the same retaining capacity as the reservoirs. The reservoirs supply the average over a day or two and the towers between four to eight [days] because they are not meant to be storing, but to create pressure in the system to supply water in elevated and high-lying areas.”
The reservoirs are interconnected, relying on each other for water supply. Therefore, if one reservoir experiences a water shortage, it will affect the supply to the others as well.
Joburg Water revealed that it distributes 1.6 million litres of potable water daily, which is abstracted from the bulk supplier, Rand Water, and delivered through a network of water infrastructure consisting of 129 reservoirs and water towers.
Although the entity is tasked with providing water and sanitation services throughout the city, Quma confirmed that the entity faces challenges due to ageing infrastructure, despite having sufficient water storage capacity.
“From Randburg’s bulk infrastructure we have adequate storage, but the infrastructure has aged. On our business plan last year, we had a R22-billion backlog in infrastructure – that means the renewal rate of upgrading the pipelines underground and building new reservoirs and rehabilitating the existing ones is lagging behind.”
He added that pipe bursts and leaks are a result of the infrastructure requiring rehabilitation. “As much as we need to catch up, the city is growing rapidly and everyone needs water from the entity, so we need to keep up with the pace.
“In the Randburg system, we have towers but not pump stations. Hence, the infrastructure is exposed to high pressure to elevate the water for distribution. If there is an outage and low or no pressure, there is air in the system. When recharging the system the air has to escape and that causes bursts and leaks that are often a challenge we face.”
Related articles: Joburg Water finally fixes the leak on Oak Avenue
Robindale’s water wastage causes concern
