Joburg Water has asked residents for patience once the maintenance ends, warning that normal pressure will not return immediately.
Picture: iStock
Johannesburg residents have been urged to store enough water in advance as several suburbs face low pressure or no water at all this weekend.
This comes as Rand Water carries out the second and final phase of its planned maintenance on Friday, 17 July, from 7am to 7pm.
Why the water will be cut
The outage will stem from Eskom maintenance work at the Zuikerbosch plant.
“Rand Water, will undertake the second and final phase of its planned maintenance on 17 July 2026, from 07:00 to 19:00, for a period of 12 hours.”
The utility also confirmed that an earlier round of work had already gone ahead without issue.
“The first phase of the planned maintenance was successfully completed between 29 May and 2 June 2026.”
Areas that will be affected
The maintenance will disrupt the Palmiet, Zwartkopjes and Eikenhof systems, with knock-on effects expected across large parts of the city.
Johannesburg Water listed the suburbs and systems that will feel the impact, covering:
- Sandton,
- Linksfield,
- Randjieslaagte,
- Midrand,
- South Hills,
- Crown Gardens
The CBD systems of:
- Yeoville,
- Berea-Parktown,
- Alan Manor and Aeroton,
- Eagles Nest
The Parktown Commando System covering:
- Brixton,
- Crosby and Hursthill,
- Randburg/Roodepoort,
- Soweto and
- Lenasia.
Joburg Water also detailed how supply will be scaled back at each system.
“Palmiet – pumping at 78% (1 600 Ml/d).” Zwartkopjes and Eikenhof will both run at reduced capacity. “Zwartkopjes – pumping at 50% (300Ml/) Eikenhof – pumping at 50% (600 Ml/d).”
Daleside will be the exception, continuing to operate normally.
“Daleside – pumping at full load.”
Recovery expected to take days
Joburg Water has asked residents for patience once the maintenance ends, warning that normal pressure will not return immediately.
“Johannesburg Water will keep residents informed through regular updates throughout the maintenance period.”
The utility also cautioned that supply will take time to stabilise fully. “Residents are reminded that the full recovery of impacted systems does take a couple of days.”
Residents in affected areas have been advised to store water in advance and to expect intermittent supply into the following week as the network stabilises.
