By Johnathan Paoli
Starting from Thursday night, Johannesburg residents will experience nightly water pressure reductions as part of a strategy to address severe water shortages in the city.
From 9 PM to 4 AM, water pressure to millions of homes will be throttled due to an emergency measure introduced by Water and Sanitation minister Pemmy Majodina in conjunction with the metro and Johannesburg Water to replenish reservoir levels.
The indefinite water restriction, in addition to the existing Level 1 restrictions, is expected to start on Thursday and continue indefintely until the water system stabilises.
Majodina emphasised that Gauteng’s daily water consumption is currently 60% above the global average, straining resources.
She said the city, already grappling with growing population demands, illegal connections and deteriorating infrastructure, has found itself in a vulnerable position as reservoir levels plummet.
The minister said the throttling measure is intended to allow water levels to recover overnight, which would be crucial in preventing more drastic shortages.
“The demand-supply relationship for treated water in Johannesburg is very tight, and the system is vulnerable to disturbances caused by electro-mechanical breakdowns or spikes in demand caused by heatwaves,” the minister said.
To support the restrictions, Johannesburg Water is bolstering its resources with additional repair crews and emergency teams to address large leaks and bursts more quickly, aiming to reduce response times from 48 to 24 hours.
Extra water trucks and standby teams will also be available to provide relief to affected areas.
Areas to be affected include most of Johannesburg’s wards, with some exceptions within the city centre and southern regions.
Additionally, City Power has announced emergency maintenance work at the substation at Eikenhof, impacting power and water supply to the Eikenhof pumping station, for most of Sunday.
City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said the planned outage is necessary in order to make repairs and maintenance, following the recent discovery of defective transformers at the substation.
“This emergency work is pivotal in ensuring that the electricity infrastructure remains robust and effective,” he said.
The outage is expected to impair the pumping capacity of Rand Water which will impact areas within the region, including Soweto, Randburg and Roodepoort, Commando [Brixton, Crosby and Hursthill], Lenasia and parts of Johannesburg Central, including the Eagles Nest, Crown Gardens, Aeroton and Alan Manor reservoirs.
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