Measures in place to restore Tshwane reservoirs supply
“Together with Rand Water, we worked out a plan to not only throttle our Garsfontein reservoir and isolate Rand Water’s Bronberg reservoir but to also isolate Rand Water’s Vlakfontein reservoir to provide additional capacity.”
The Tshwane metro has put measures in place to restore the water supply to areas in the east supplied by the Mooikloof and Grootfontein reservoirs.
“On Wednesday we worked with Rand Water to isolate the supply to other reservoirs,” said MMC for utilities and regional operations Themba Fosi.
“The intention was to push as much water as possible to the two reservoirs that still did not have water.”
Fosi said the prioritisation of Mooikloof and Grootfontein reservoirs initially seemed to be realistic, but was not sustainable.
“This worked and we confirmed that water was flowing into and out of the reservoirs on Thursday morning.
“Later on, however, the two reservoirs were still struggling to build capacity, as the water was flowing out as fast as it flowed in.”
Fosi said they agreed with Rand Water to throttle their reservoirs to provide capacity to Tshwane.
“Together with Rand Water, we worked out a plan to not only throttle our Garsfontein reservoir and isolate Rand Water’s Bronberg reservoir but to also isolate Rand Water’s Vlakfontein reservoir to provide additional capacity.
“Vlakfontein reservoir needed to be at a minimum level of 40% to assist with supplying the Mooikloof and Grootfontein reservoirs.”
Fosi said at the moment the Tshwane reservoirs are filling in faster.
“It is very slow at the moment, but the fact that water is now filling the reservoirs faster than it is going out will allow us to normalise the water supply, particularly to high-lying areas that have been the worst affected.
“We will continue monitoring the situation to ensure that levels continue to rise. We expect more residents in the two supply areas to receive water throughout the day and into the night.”
He urged residents to use water sparingly.
“Residents must please be considerate of their fellow residents and limit their water usage.
“We must all work together to ensure that everyone can get water back in their homes.
“The less water we use, the faster water will build up in reservoirs to assist in returning supply to everyone,” he said.
The metro said water tankers were still deployed to affected areas and will be on the scene until the water supply was fully restored.
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