As millions of residents in the city of gold grapple with intermittent or no water supply, Johannesburg Water says it has deployed 50 roaming water trucks and 56 water tanks to mitigate the crisis.   

“While this may not replace potable water, this is how the entity is ensuring residents have regular water supply,” said Logan Munsamy, Senior Operations Manager at Johannesburg Water. 

Water supply in Johannesburg has been stuttering for months. It recently came under the spotlight in August as Rand Water experienced various challenges to its bulk infrastructure, which ultimately impacted negatively on different water supply systems across the city.  

Residents in different parts of the city reported large-scale outages, while numerous schools with no alternative water supplies have been forced to close. Meanwhile, the water outages have continued to cause disruptions in hospitals including Rahima Moosa Hospital in Coronationville resorted to using borehole water and tankers to keep it running.  

Read more in Daily Maverick: Johannesburg Water supply crisis sees residents pleading for relief 

By 10 October 2023, Munsamy said water provision to the hospitals had improved.  

Supply improvements touted

“Johannesburg Water is pumping water into the roof ranks of the Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital to ensure the facility has adequate water supply. The Hellen Joseph Hospital is being fed directly through the tower system. Johannesburg Water regularly monitors the supply to both hospitals.” 

Speaking during a media briefing on Tuesday, Munsamy said, several water systems remained under immense strain. These include: 

• South Hills tower and pump station;
• Crown Gardens;
• Commando System;
• Naturena;
• Midrand Systems;
• Alexander Park; and
• the Sandton/Illovo reservoir system.

It was unclear when the crisis would be resolved. 

“We are committed together with Rand Water to finding the shortest possible solution to this problem and going forward to developing something that is sustainable. We don’t want to be in this situation, it was never our intention, we are meeting on a daily basis, we interact quite a few times in person and onsite to try and resolve any subsequent issues that affect water supply,” said Munsamy responding to questions from journalists. 

“It’s hard to say at this stage by when. It’s hard based on the current low levels from both the Rand Water side as well as on the Johannesburg Water side…”    

Read more in Daily Maverick: Day Zero comes to parts of Joburg as water cuts roll through city and taps run dry 

A 2019 view of the Temba Water Purification Plant that supplies water to Hammanskraal. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla)

In the absence of water supply from Rand Water improving, Munsamy said mitigation plans would be expanded.  

“Some of the mitigation is water tanking, we will continue and intensify water tanking if we have to, but at the same time, we will continue to curb demand on our system, we will operate valves…”    

In addition to the short-term mitigation plans, Munsamy announced that medium to long-term plans were afoot, including:  

1. Construction of 15 additional storage reservoirs in the next five years — this will create adequate capacity to buffer water supply interruptions stemming from power supply interruptions.
2. Commission Zuikerbosch Water purification plant 5b by 2026, this will supply an additional 600 million l/d.
3. Install standby generators at Eikenhof, Palmiet and Zwartkoppies booster pump stations in the next five years. These generators will run several pumps that will keep the system pressurised to mitigate the impact of air locks in the system owing to pump stoppages when power supply interruptions occur.

The city has also been grappling with an upward trajectory in water consumption since 23 July 2023, except on days when there is no water in the system. Munsamy said water consumption was increasing week after week, with the city using 12.7% above the baseline target.  

Johannesburg Water’s latest report shows 46.1% of supplied water is lost through commercial losses, unbilled, unmetered consumption and physical losses which include leaks. It wants to reduce this by implementing the following interventions:  

• Repair of leaking reservoirs and tower infrastructure;
• Repair and replacement of zonal bulk water meters;
• Active and passive leak detection;
• Establishing new pressure management zones and minimum night flow analysis;
• Retrofitting and removal of wasteful devices (infrastructure upgrade and renewal);
• By-law enforcement (illegal connection cut-offs and reconnections);
• Replacement and refurbishment of large gate valves;
• Water Pipe replacement; and
• Domestic and large consumer meter replacement.    

In the meantime, Level 1 restrictions remain in place until 31 March 2024, providing that residents avoid hosepipe use, swimming pool refilling and water feature use between 6am and 6pm daily. DM