Insight on Kelvin/Marlboro water outages

Water is the most necessary resource on our planet.
Residents from Kelvin and Marlboro have taken to using social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to lament the consistent water outages plaguing their communities.

Social media user @BoetaR has consistently appealed to Joburg Water on X between October 16 and November 3, lamenting that there was no water.

“Once again we have a water outage in Kelvin Region E Sandton; Marlboro is also reporting water loss,” @BoetaR posted. “Please advise on the issue here. This is becoming an increasingly frustrating problem.”

The Sandton Chronicle contacted Johannesburg Water (JW) with an enquiry on October 31. The spokesperson for JW, Nombuso Shabalala responded on November 3.

“The water interruption was due to the closing of the Sandton 1 and 2 meters to allow Rand Water reservoirs, which are further upstream of the system, to recover,” Shabalala explained.

“These reservoirs are currently at low levels. As a result, the Linbro Park and Marlboro direct feeds [which supply the Kelvin, Marlboro and surrounding areas] had no water supply.”

Shabalala refuted claims that there had been no effort to communicate with community members.

“Johannesburg Water regularly communicates water supply interruptions with customers through daily water notices and systems updates, which are shared with ward councillors and on our social media pages. We also send out bulk SMSs to inform residents about water outages affecting their areas.”

Shabalala explained the process that ensures that homes in Joburg have a clean, sustainable water supply.

“Johannesburg Water purchases potable water from our bulk supplier, Rand Water,” said Shabalala. “This potable water is distributed through our network of 128 reservoirs and water towers to supply the City of Johannesburg’s customers.”

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