Taps running dry: Widespread water outage in Joburg

A large part of Johannesburg woke up to no water on Saturday as reservoirs across the city ran low to empty.

Taps ran dry in the South, East and central parts of Johannesburg, with Joburg Water admitting some of its systems are struggling with capacity.

It said the South Hills tower was supplying the area through a tower bypass system, because of “unstable to no supply from Rand Water”.

“Pumping into the tower will resume once supply improves,” it added.

ALSO READ: Rand Water can restrict areas using too much water – here’s what happens if they do

Rand Water has not acknowledged any outages or issues. Any update from them will be included once received.

Joburg Water said low-lying areas will receive water at lower pressure, while high-lying areas will have little to no water.

Critical to empty

Berea and Alexander Park reservoirs are low to empty and are being bypassed, while Doornkop, Parktown, Linksfield, and Eagle’s Nest reservoirs, Linden 1 tower, and the Commando System (feeding Brixton, Crosby and Hursthill) are critical to empty.

Areas around these reservoirs, towers and systems will have little to no water.

No estimated time of restoration was given.

Throttling

Joburg Water recently announced it would be throttling water supply and closing “critical meters” to save water and avert a total collapse of the water system.

ALSO READ: Joburg Water shutting ‘critical meters’ at night to save water

It said on Saturday the Crown Gardens reservoir was critically low and would be throttled at 20% of capacity.

The following systems will be throttled at 90% to save water and build capacity for Sunday.

• Brixton
• Hursthill 1 and 2
• Rabie Ridge
• Diepsloot
• Chiawelo
• Glenvista
• Berea
• Alexander Park.

It said despite increased demand and the recent heatwave the overall system was stable.