Tshwane residents can breathe a sigh of relief as they won’t be affected by the upcoming six-month water supply maintenance.
Recently the Department of Water and Sanitation informed users of the Vaal River water supply system that it planned to upgrade the Lesotho Highlands water project between October 1 and March 31, 2025.
The transfer tunnel, linking Katse Dam, Muela power station and Muela Dam forms the scope of the work.
Departmental spokesperson Wisane Mavasa said Tshwane will not be affected by this.
“The planned maintenance of the Lesotho Highlands tunnel will not affect the availability of raw water from the Vaal Dam, from where Rand Water abstracts and supplies its customers, including Tshwane,” she said.
Mavasa said this work is done at intervals not shorter than five years but not exceeding 10.
“The last maintenance was in 2019 and during the shutdown, it was found that the steel liners in the tunnel urgently need extensive maintenance in both Lesotho and South Africa.
This process cannot be done in a shorter period of six months,” she said.
She said the work would include blasting the steel-lined sections of the tunnel, then re-applying the anti-corrosion lining as well as “maintenance and repair of liners problem identified during the 2019 shutdown”.
“This work will take a lot of time as it is expected to protect the infrastructure for another 20 to 30 years,” she said.
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