Johannesburg Water to implement a 9-hour shutdown next week

Johannesburg Water will implement a nine-hour shutdown due to planned maintenance on Thursday, 23 May.

The maintenance is scheduled to start at 9:00 and end at 18:00.

JOHANNESBURG WATER TEAMS TO CONDUCT PLANNED MAINTENANCE

Johannesburg Water said its teams be will commissioning new infrastructure on the above mentioned date, hence the shutdown.

The maintenance will affect Blue Hills Plots downstream water pipe and these streets:

• Mimosa Roads
• Poplar Road
• Acacia Road

PLANS TO IMPROVE SUPPLY

During the week, Johannesburg Water unveiled its new Brixton reservoir and tower and Crosby pump station project.

The entity said the projects will boost water storage capacity for the Commando System (which comprises the Brixton, Crosby, and Hursthill complexes) as well as improve supply to the feeder zones.

“The project is part of Johannesburg Water’s ongoing efforts to ensure consistent and long-term water supply through the upgrading of existing infrastructure, and the provision of new water infrastructure for additional capacity to support higher density settlements,” the entity said.

Following major challenges with supply especially earlier this year, City of Johannesburg Mayor Kabelo Gwamanda said the municipality will invest in infrastructure maintenance to curb the unplanned water outages.

Following the challenges, non-governmental organisation WaterCan said there has been a consistent lack of funding allocated to maintenance.

“The repairs and maintenance budget goes to personnel and only a tiny amount for inventory…with only about 13% of the City’s capital expenditure budget covering both building new assets and renewal of existing assets.” 

Weighing in on the issue, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said blame-shifting and half-baked interventions have combined to make the crisis worse. 

DA spokesperson Solly Malatsi said the only sustainable solution to the water crisis is to address the infrastructure failures that have contributed to the current water outages.

“Unfortunately, the budget for infrastructure maintenance is woefully inadequate, and Johannesburg is currently saddled with an R80 billion water infrastructure backlog.

“Therefore, it is no surprise that the City loses 46.1% of the water it receives from Rand Water due to leaks and incurs R1.7 billion in lost revenue as a result,” Malatsi said.