Residents should ignore a municipal notice about scheduled water outages for 30 hours on eight days between February 25 to April 22.

The notice was removed from the municipal website but is circulating on WhatsApp.

The notice says the municipality is currently undertaking refurbishments at the Vaalbank Water Treatment Plant.

The project will include bulk electricity upgrades, the construction of new sludge ponds, paving of roads, and refurbishment of the existing pump station.

Refurbishment of the pump station requires the replacement of major equipment which require a number of planned shutdowns.

Activities would have included the replacement of old mechanical and electrical equipment and the replacement of suction and delivery pipes, pumps, motors, valves, and electrical panels, as well as concrete works, which has to dry before the plant is brought back into operation.

The dates of February 25, March 4, March 11, March 18, March 25, April 1, April 15 and April 22 were scheduled for planned shutdowns.

What shocked residents, however, was the planned outage time of 30 hours on every scheduled day.

The municipality confirmed that the notice has been pulled and that a new strategy is being planned with less downtime.

The new dates and timeslots will be published as soon as the schedule has been finalised.