Water crisis in Linmeyer reaches unacceptable level

Waking up or going to bed without water has been the daily norm for people of Linmeyer lately.

They are at their wit’s ends because of this problem and don’t believe any explanation from councillors, Johannesburg Water (JW) and Rand Water (RW). They believe they are being hoodwinked and that there is an underlying problem they are not told about.

One of the residents, Rozlind Strong, said it is shameful to the government, RW and JW that there is once again no water.

“Who are they going to blame now? Eskom for the load-shedding causing damage to the pumps because they are constantly on and off? Or do they blame the government for the lack of maintenance?

“We need some action. Something has to be done about this. The ward councillors are also unable to do anything about the issue because they are just as powerless. They can only go on the lies that are being told to them by RW and JW.

“They send pathetic videos and poor updates regarding the water situation. Although I’m sure the councillors do all they can to get the correct information, RW and JW just feed them absolute rubbish,” explained Strong.

Nolwazi Dhlamini, external communication officer from JW responded, “ The bulk water supplier, RW supplies JW. Just like JW, RW experiences challenges from time to time due to its ageing infrastructure, which impacts the water supply to various JW systems, including the South Hills tower. There is no problem with the South Hills tower infrastructure. JW is unfortunately not in control of the inflow from RW systems.

“JW is aware that there has been a lack of continuous water supply to the South Hills tower. As of March 16, there was no water flow into the tower, hence the residents had no water. We experience an intermittent water supply from RW and if there is no water from RW flowing into the South Hills tower, we are unable to pump from the tower. When the supply drops, the pumps are automated to stop pumping because there is no water coming through. This issue has been occurring daily for about two weeks now. We are monitoring the tower daily.

“As soon as the water supply is restored from RW, the pumps at JW’s infrastructure automatically start working again.

“Furthermore, Linmeyer is one of the high-lying suburbs in the supply zone, along with South Hills, Thulisa Park, and Risana and is mostly affected by low water to no supply when inflows from RW are limited.

“JW continues to provide alternative water supply by placing water tankers at strategic areas as a temporary measure.”