Day 8 without water leaves Florentia and Alberton North residents frustrated
Residents say repeated updates from officials have done little to ease their frustration as some households remain completely without water while others continue battling low pressure amid ongoing repair work at the Alberton North reservoir.
Residents in Florentia and Alberton North have endured days without a reliable water supply, with some households completely dry and others experiencing extremely low pressure since May 22.
The ongoing outage has left frustrated residents struggling to carry out basic daily activities while they receive updates from officials on repair efforts at the Alberton North reservoir.
According to Ward 37 councillor Ivan Naidoo, teams have been working to resolve a major issue linked to the reservoir as well as a burst pipe in Radio Road.
“Yes, it is a major issue. The department has been attending to the issue of the burst pipe in Radio Road and sourcing parts to restore water to all residents affected. The team have been working tirelessly to have water restored,” said Naidoo.
Residents received several updates over recent days, explaining that technicians identified a pressure problem originating from the Alberton North reservoir and that a 200mm diaphragm needed to be replaced.
One update informed residents that officials were sourcing parts and that contractors had struggled to find the correct-sized diaphragm.
“We will have to work all through the night,” read one of the updates shared with residents.
Another update issued on May 27 stated that the float mechanism at the reservoir had been manually opened while officials monitored water levels before completing further work.
Water tankers were also dispatched to affected areas while repairs continued.
Resident Nellie Eybers described the situation as extremely difficult for families.
“I haven’t had a proper bath since the water issue started. The whole situation is inconveniencing us, and it’s hard to do anything without water,” she said.
Eybers added that residents were growing increasingly frustrated as they continued receiving updates without seeing the problem resolved.
“It feels like they keep giving us updates, but the problem is not getting fixed,” she said.
The City of Ekurhuleni had not responded to media inquiries at the time of publication.
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