21-day water outage in Joburg set to begin Friday

Johannesburg residents are bracing for a gruelling 21-day water outage starting from 30 June, as Rand Water embarks on extensive maintenance work that will severely impact the water supply across multiple areas of the city.

The maintenance will conclude on 21 July 2025.

According to Joburg Water, the prolonged outage will affect numerous neighbourhoods, including:

• The Commando System covering Hursthill, Brixton and Crosby, Lenasia Systems, Randburg
• Roodepoort Systems,
• Soweto Systems,
• Crown Gardens Reservoir,
• Eagles Nest Reservoir, and
• Aeroton Reservoir.

During this period, these areas will experience no water pumping for the first six hours, followed by reduced capacity of just 50% for 42 hours, before being increased to 80% for the remaining 19 days.

Emergency repairs precede planned maintenance

The extensive maintenance program comes on the heels of emergency repairs that left Johannesburg Water’s systems critically depleted.

Rand Water completed emergency repairs on their F12/F39 bulk pipeline on Wednesday, 21 May, which had severely impacted the city’s water reserves.

“Although the repairs have been completed, Johannesburg Water’s systems will slowly recover over the next few days, as they need time to build capacity,” Johannesburg Water stated in their customer notice.

Strategic timing for maximum impact

Rand Water has strategically scheduled the maintenance work during the cooler months to minimise disruption during peak demand periods.

According to Rand Water, this represents “the ideal time of year to execute the upcoming planned maintenance work, as it is a low temperature period of May to July 2025 in preparation for the high-demand period, which usually starts in August 2025.”

The maintenance aims to improve plant availability, reliability and efficiencies toward creating a more flexible system at the bulk supplier’s Vereeniging, Zuikerbosch and Zwartkopjes systems.

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Multiple maintenance operations planned

Beyond the major 21-day outage, several other maintenance operations will compound water supply challenges across Johannesburg.

The first scheduled maintenance involves Klipriviersberg isolation for cleaning and inspection on 3 June 2025, from 6am to 4 pm, affecting the Palmiet System for 10 hours.

This initial maintenance will impact:

• Sandton Systems,
• Alexander Park Reservoir,
• South Hills Tower,
• Randjieslaagte Reservoir,
• Linksfield Reservoir, and
• Midrand Systems.

During the water outage, water utilities said pumping would be reduced to 67% capacity during the 10-hour period.

A separate 48-hour maintenance operation will begin on 30 June at 5am and continue until 2 July 5am.

This maintenance will be focusing on pipe leak repairs at the Zuikerbosch Plant affecting the Eikenhof System.

It will impact the same areas as the 21-day outage, with no pumping for six hours, followed by 50% capacity for 42 hours, then 80% for the remaining period.

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Additional infrastructure work

Concurrent with the major maintenance, valve replacements at Zwartkopjes Station will affect the Zwartkopjes System from 30 June 5am until 2 July 7 am, spanning 50 hours.

This work will impact the following areas:

• Crown Gardens,
• Eagles Nest Reservoir,
• Parktown,
• Berea,
• Forest Hill,
• Alan Manor,
• Naturena, and
• Hector Norris Pump Station, with no pumping throughout the maintenance duration.

Recovery timeline and resident impact

Johannesburg Water has warned that recovery will not be immediate following each maintenance period.

“Please note that after each maintenance has been completed, it will take several days for the system to fully recover, and for normal water supply to return,” the utility stated.

Areas supplied by Sandton and Midrand reservoirs and towers face particularly lengthy recovery periods, as these reservoirs must first rebuild capacity after being emptied during maintenance.

Residents across affected areas can expect to experience poor water pressure or complete water outages during the maintenance periods.

ALSO READ: Rand Water spends R400m yearly on maintenance as 107-hour winter programme begins

Emergency water supply arrangements

In response to the anticipated hardship, Johannesburg Water will establish alternative water supply points at strategic locations within residential areas.

However, the utility is strongly encouraging residents to prepare by storing water in advance of the maintenance work.

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