Load shedding double shock for city

Load shedding that was implemented during the weekend and that will possibly continue until Thursday has already impacted on water supply to city consumers since Sunday. Cellular phone and data availability were also affected due to power outages.
Eskom announced on Sunday that Stage 2 rotational load shedding will continue from 09:00 today (Monday) until Thursday at 06:00, with respite between 06:00 to 09:00 each day to minimise the impact on traffic mobility.
“Unplanned outages or breakdowns were at 11 831 MW as at 17:00 on Sunday. While good progress has been made in replenishing water for our pumped storage schemes, we have not fully replenished diesel for our open cycle gas turbines, necessitating that Stage 2 load shedding be implemented during the week until Thursday. We will continue to monitor the system closely and will give periodic updates on the status of the power system as things may change at short notice,” Eskom said in a media release on its website.
Communications and Marketing Manager of Polokwane Municipality, Matshidiso Mothapo said that water shortages during the weekend and at present were due to load shedding at Ebenezer Dam as well as at the series of pump stations on the 93 km pipeline providing the city reservoirs. This morning (Monday) the levels of the Potgieter Street reservoir as well as the three reservoirs at Krugersburg were at 1%, 20%, 10% and 10% respectively. The level of the Seshego reservoir was at 0%,
Cellular service operators confirmed that although the majority of their sites have back-up power, the frequency and severity of outages do not always allow the batteries to recharge sufficiently, resulting in communications breakdowns.

Story: BARRY VILJOEN
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