Residents left high and dry as defunct water tower in Kite Street allowed to stand idle
Johannesburg Water confirm tower not in use and that no plans for reinstatement are currently being considered
Tall and imposing, a concrete cylinder overlooking Swan Circle Park is a daily reminder of waste and neglect.
The Kite Street water tower is one of the many reservoirs dotted along or near Ontdekkers Road. Residents note how the tower was shut down for cleaning in the early 2000s and since then have dealt with drastically reduced pressure. The age of load-shedding dawned in 2008 and with it, the taps in the homes near the tower began running dry whenever the organised blackouts occurred.
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As load-shedding became a permanent factor of daily life since the back end of 2022, those living closest to the water tower revisited their curiosity about the tower’s functionality. “The tower in question is not in use and supply to the area is through the Horison Tower on Finch Street. There are no plans at this stage as to whether it will be re-used in the future or not,” confirmed Johannesburg Water spokesperson, Puleng Mopeli.
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The Finch Street tower is in a lower-lying area than Kite Street meaning load-shedding comes with empty taps as the pumps are unable to operate. As a result, the empty taps and pipes fill with air during load-shedding, creating a pressure blockage that often takes hours to equalise. This has affected water meters, as Mikaela Yates noted well after the fact that air rushing through her pipes was forcing the meter to tick over at lightning speeds.
Before this rouge meter was identified, Mikaela’s water bill went from roughly R400 per month to just over R2 000. Only when monitoring the meter did they link the readings to air blockage but when asking the City of Johannesburg to evaluate the meter, their tests revealed no problems. To keep the meter in sync with water flow, Mikaela and her father use an alan key to turn the meter off during load-shedding.
This now daily monitoring of the meter before and after load-shedding is one of the many disrupted chores Mikaela and her family have incorporated into their daily lives. She noted how the erratic water supply forces them to keep buckets of water handy to flush toilets and do laundry or dishes at inconvenient times, even around midnight if necessary.
“We feel like sitting ducks. We have adjusted our lives over the years but we have had enough now,” said Mikaela.
As of February 7, requests for an explanation of why the tower was shut down were acknowledged and information from Johannesburg Water’s Operations Department is eagerly awaited.
