The good news of water levels showing signs of improvement at some reservoirs in Pretoria, which are supplied by Rand Water’s Palmiet system, was short-lived.

The municipality has now confirmed that water supply challenges are set to worsen following a power failure at the Zuikerbosch Water Treatment Plant.

Tshwane metro spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said the power failure at the Zuikerbosch plant, which forms part of the Rand Water system, is currently affecting the Palmiet supply system.

“Rand Water has confirmed that pumping has stopped completely. This means there is no incoming bulk water supply to any City of Tshwane systems supplied through the Palmiet system,” said Mashigo.

As a result, he warned that all areas supplied by the Palmiet system will experience interruptions and declining reservoir levels.

“The improvements reported on January 27 are expected to reverse as reservoirs continue to drop without incoming supply,” he said.

This update follows earlier developments reported by the metro, when Rand Water experienced technical challenges on the Palmiet system that reduced pumping to about 180 megalitres per day while emergency repairs and corrective work were underway.

At the time, Mashigo said the reduced output affected most areas supplied by the system, leading to low water pressure, slow reservoir recovery, and intermittent supply.

On Tuesday morning, Mashigo confirmed that the Palmiet supply system had shown significant overnight improvement, with reservoirs such as Pretoriusrand, The Reeds and Laudium stabilising, while Atteridgeville High Level and Lotus Gardens were also showing strong signs of recovery.

He cautioned then that water levels at the Soshanguve L Reservoir remained too low to resume pumping to the tower zone, prompting targeted interventions to support recovery.

Those gains have now been overtaken by the power failure at Zuikerbosch.

Mashigo said the following reservoirs supplied through the Palmiet system are currently affected:

In the north: Akasia, Akasia East and Akasia West reservoirs, Ga-Rankuwa East, Ga-Rankuwa West and Ga-Rankuwa Industrial reservoirs, Kruisfontein, Klipfontein, Mabopane Main, Mabopane Reservoir and Mabopane Central, Magaliesberg and Rosslyn, Rama City Meter, Soshanguve DD, Soshanguve L, Plot 56 Strydfontein Meter, Rosslyn Ext 15 Meter, RW Direct 2 (SAB), Winterveldt, Atteridgeville High Level, Atteridgeville Low Level, Saulsville,Wonderboom, Magalies, Rooiwal, Klapperkop, Heights High Level, Heights Low Level

In Centurion: Bakenkop, Brakfontein, Clifton, Laudium, Louwlardia, Rooihuiskraal, Thaba Tshwane Meter, Erasmia, Heuweloord, Kosmosdal Connection, Mnandi, Raslouw, Pierre van Ryneveld, Cornwall Hill, The Reeds, Sunderland Ridge and Valhalla.

In the west: Pretoria West High Level, Iscor, Pretoria West Low Level, Lotus Gardens, Hercules East, Hercules West, Suiderberg.

Mashigo said there is currently no estimated time of restoration.

“There is currently no estimated time of restoration, as Rand Water is still assessing when power will be restored and what pumping capacity will be available once power returns,” he said.

He added that the metro will continue to closely monitor the situation in co-ordination with Rand Water and will communicate further updates as soon as confirmed information becomes available.

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