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A resident of Waterfall Ridge, Pakiso Sigabe, is getting water from the borehole tap during a water maintenance week.
(The Post News)- Residents of Waterfall Ridge, Vorna Valley, are scrambling with water bottles and buckets during an ongoing water outage.
They are now reliant on a borehole tap to meet their daily water needs.
Johannesburg Water issued a media statement on July 21 announcing the second phase of Rand Water Palmiet Pump station maintenance affecting the Grand Central Reservoir and Tower, E-Rand 1 and 2 reservoirs and tower, President Park Reservoir and Tower, and Rabie Ridge Reservoir and Tower.
On July 25, they announced phase three of Rand Water Palmiet Pump Station maintenance to commence on July 29.
Residents have been without water for nearly a week. Pakiso Sigabe mentioned that he was preparing to cook for his family when he discovered there was no water and no schedule for its return. “There’s no schedule or updates, so you have to keep checking. Sometimes there’s water, and sometimes there isn’t,” he said.
JHB Water announced on X that water tanks have been placed around the affected areas, but residents of Waterfall Ridge report that they have not seen any water tanks in their streets.
Currently, they are relying on a borehole tap for water, which is unsuitable for consumption and is only used for cleaning and flushing toilets.
Resident Tebogo Mlawuli noted that the borehole water often runs out during the day, adding to the stress of having to prepare meals for children coming back from school with no available water.
Another resident, Marie Saunders, said that she goes to the borehole tap to get water in the morning with five bottles before the tap runs dry.
“I haven’t seen any water tanks on the streets. Water tanks are not the solution here; Johannesburg Water and Rand Water need to fix this,” said Saunders.
The third phase of maintenance is a concern for many residents. They have been scrambling for water for almost a week, yet there is another maintenance scheduled for next week.
Methusi Sibanda said, “We just had maintenance last week, and they are implementing a new one, yet still now we do not have water, and it’s not days. It’s been a week now and more.”
The manager at the complex, Brandon Swart, informed residents that the City of Johannesburg confirmed that the reason they are experiencing no water is because the reservoirs are critically low.
“They did not give me an estimate of how long we would not have water for, but I will keep following up,” said Swart.
“We advise all residents to prepare accordingly by taking necessary precautions and storing water in advance to mitigate any inconveniences,” he added.
Johannesburg Water stated on July 25, that Midrand systems are currently constrained due to demand exceeding available supply.
Johannesburg Water added that they are putting interventions in place to balance the systems and equitably distribute available capacity.
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