East of Pretoria still dry for several days now

Large parts of the east continued to be plagued by dry taps even though the water was expected to be restored on Monday.

Residents are fed up with the situation and said they haven’t had any water since Saturday.

The Tshwane metro deployed water tankers to assist in areas affected by the crisis, but it seems to have had little effect on mitigating the crisis.

Tshwane mayor Cilliers Brink said that the east was experiencing water shortages as a result of Rand Water’s issues.

“Rand Water has since addressed most of the issues,” he said.
These issues included engine breakdowns and cable theft at water pumping stations.

Brink said currently reservoirs are filling up.

“We are at a difficult stage where reservoirs are slowly filling up. We plead with residents in the affected areas to use water sparingly,” he said.

“We will take an important measure to ensure that the reservoirs reach critical stages of water level so we can stabilise the water supply.”

He said the metro was now dealing with the breakdown of their main water supply from Rand Water.

“We have deployed water tankers to assist in the affected areas and the schedules are communicated with ward councillors,” he added.

Local ward councillor Daryl Johnston said higher stages of load-shedding were another cause of the water outages.

“When the electricity goes off for more than three hours, it takes up the time which reservoirs were supposed to fill up.

“Pumps are not operational when the power goes off; thus, it affects water purification and distribution.”

Johnston said the main pumping station issues had a significant impact on the water problems.

“The station, which supplies the east parts of Tshwane, was affected due to flooding of the Zuikerbosch water treatment plant engine room last week. This hindered water from filling up Tshwane reservoirs.

“We received communication which suggested that the water was supposed to be restored on Monday, but that was not the case and we don’t know what went wrong.”

Ward 101 ward councillor Malcolm de Klerk said water tankers were deployed.

“Water tankers are on the ground to assist residents, but it is a pity that they are not enough. But we are just grateful that at least water is being provided.

“The Wilds Clubhouse, Featherwood Retirement Estate gate, 131 Mat Avenue and Pretoriuspark ext. 40 are the locations where water distribution is made.”

The metro update on reservoir levels as of this morning:

– Mooikloof reservoir (still empty, high-lying reservoir; will receive water the last): supplies Mooikloof

– Grootfontein reservoir (7%, high-lying reservoir): supplies Grootfontein, The Hills and surrounding areas

– Carina Street reservoirs (26%): supplies Waterkloof Ridge

– Garsfontein reservoir (40%): is the holding reservoir in the east

– Parkmore HL reservoir (24%): supplies high-lying areas of Menlyn, Garsfontein, parts of Newlands and surrounding areas

– Elarduspark reservoir (2%, because we had to stop pumping from Garsfontein as it was low): supplies Moreletapark, Wingate Park and Elarduspark

– Parkmore LL reservoir (64% at 22:00 on Monday night): supplies low-lying areas of Garsfontein & surrounding areas

– Waverley HL reservoir (66%): supplies high-lying areas of Waverley

– Waverley LL reservoir (99%): supplies low-lying areas of Waverley

– Villieria reservoirs (63%): supplies the Villeria area

– Eersterust reservoir (1.81%, worrying): Critical warning

– Mamelodi R1 & R3 reservoir: empty and no movement, worrying

-Monument Park reservoir: telemetry reading error, will confirm the actual reading. Should be fine, was 66% last night at 22:00

– Constantia Park reservoir (5.73%, slight upward movement).

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