Rand Water has warned that persistently high water consumption is placing severe strain on Gauteng’s water supply system, with Johannesburg and Tshwane among the worst-affected areas.
The bulk water supplier said on Saturday demand has continued to exceed allocated volumes, placing pressure on infrastructure and contributing to widespread water outages.
“Rand Water remains concerned with persistently high water consumption in Gauteng, particularly the City of Johannesburg and Tshwane.”
The warning comes as several areas in Johannesburg continue to experience prolonged water outages, including Midrand, where residents have faced intermittent supply disruptions for nearly two weeks.
According to Rand Water, Midrand has a long-standing challenge of high water consumption, a problem that has been worsened by the rapid growth of formal and informal settlements in the area.
Johannesburg Water said on Tuesday it had been informed by Rand Water in January about emergency repair work at the Palmiet pump station.
The repairs required the isolation and fixing of critical pump infrastructure.
Johannesburg Water said that though the work was initially expected to be completed within a short period, technical and operational challenges caused significant delays.
The situation was further compounded by a power trip at Rand Water’s Zuikerbosch water treatment plant on January 27, which affected supply to the Eikenhof and Zwartkoppies systems.
Another power failure occurred at the Palmiet pump station on January 31, further destabilising the network.
“This above-normal consumption that has exceeded the allocated volumes continues to place significant strain on the overall water supply network,” Rand Water said.
“Current demand is forcing the system to operate under pressure, stretching infrastructure capacity to accommodate abnormally high usage levels.”
The elevated consumption has already had a direct impact on supply in parts of its bulk distribution area.
The utility produces about 5,000 million litres of water per day, with 77% of that volume consumed by Tshwane, Ekurhuleni and Johannesburg.
“Rand Water, after engaging high water-consuming municipalities, will reduce water supply to these areas to restore water supply in affected areas to stabilise the entire bulk water supply systems.
“We urge customers and consumers to use water sparingly. We strongly encourage high water-consuming municipalities to implement water-saving measures to help reduce demand and protect system stability.”
TimesLIVE
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