Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero has assured the residents of the South African city that water supply will be restored to all areas “by Christmas,” as the recent “planned and pre-announced” water infrastructure maintenance work left the area without water supply for some 86 hours.
While on December 20, reports emerged about households still being without water supply, Morero conducted a walkabout of the Honeydew Reservoir and Tower in Roodepoort, where he told the media, “We are going to other areas to check them and make sure all of them are done and have water supply. But we can give a commitment to all the residents of Johannesburg that they will have water; all of them by Christmas. Others by tomorrow [with] some areas the water levels will be high.”
“So hopefully by Friday, all those areas that were affected by maintenance will have water. We are asking for residents to continue exercising a bit of patience. We are almost at the last mile and the water will be there,” Morero added.
The mayor explained that the maintenance and upgrades to the system could not be postponed.
“[It is] critical maintenance that has to be done. We thought, as Joburg Water, we would ask them to postpone, but it was critical that this intervention happens, and it happens now. You would know that to a large extent, our numbers go down in Johannesburg as people start travelling out of the city, so we think it was the best period to do so,” he continued.
“We also aimed that by [Christmas Day] all maintenance programmes would have been completed and people would have water. We are also trying to attract people to come and visit Johannesburg and spend their Christmas in Johannesburg and everybody would want to be in a place that has constant water supply,” Morero said.
Johannesburg Water reiterated the mayor’s call for patience, as the system begins to recover.
In a statement posted on micro-blogging site X, Johannesburg Water noted that “following the maintenance performed by Rand Water…the water systems in Johannesburg are showing a gradual improvement in their overall performance.”
“However, it is important to note that the reservoir systems of Rand Water need to recover fully before Johannesburg Water reservoirs and towers can realise the full effects of this recovery,” the agency stated.
“The Johannesburg Water network…is exhibiting early signs of recovery, resulting in water being supplied to the network. This development accounts for the varying water pressure experienced in certain areas,” the statement read.
The entity also explained that it is important to “preserve the current systems in a reasonable status” and reminded residents to use water with care.
“This requires Johannesburg Water to expedite repairs, respond to closure of bursts and leaks to contain physical losses,” Johannesburg Water said, while urging those who are now receiving water, to use it sparingly and observe level one restrictions which are currently in place.
“The combination of these efforts will prevent losing systems and aid in speeding up recovery,” the entity concluded.