Water outages: Short-term pain for long-term gain, says Rand Water

The water board is further warning that the recovery in the high-laying areas is anticipated to take up to two weeks.

Rand Water Group Chief Executive, Sipho Mosai, says in a video on social media on Monday afternoon that even the outages are leaving residents frustrated, the massive maintenance was completed on time.

"This period is prolonged for all high-lying areas, especially those that depend on reservoir levels and pressure. Mapleton pumping station is starting to recover with some low-lying areas in the City of Ekurhuleni starting to receive water. 

"These include areas such as Vosloorus, Dawnpark, and Dalpark. More areas will start receiving water."

This week marks the final phase of Rand Water's month-long proactive maintenance which commenced on 22 June 2024. 

The maintenance of the water infrastructure aims to improve the reliability, integrity and long-term preservation of the infrastructure to ensure a sustainable and uninterrupted supply of bulk potable water.

The final phases of the maintenance project include the maintenance work at Zuikerbosch Water Treatment Plant (ZWTP) Engine Room 2, which resumed on Monday morning and is scheduled to end at 9 PM on Tuesday.

The maintenance work involves the maintenance of various valves, pipelines as well as electrical and mechanical assets. 

Mosai adds that the Zuikerbosch Water Treatment Plant maintenance will affect the Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni Municipalities.

"The work will impact water supply to the Palmiet Pumping Station as pumping will be reduced to 76% during this period implying that 24% of Palmiet's pumping capacity will be out of production.

"The Madibeng Local Municipality in Bojanala Platinum District Municipality, in the North-West province will also be impacted. Areas recover differently after the maintenance process due to different hydraulics designs of the systems which indicates that some areas will recover earlier than others."