Tshwane’s water woes could worsen if residents in the capital continue to consume water at the current rate, the city has warned.
While Rand Water conducts its 107-hour planned major maintenance that will affect parts of the City of Tshwane, the municipality has urged residents to conserve water or risk further outages.
City of Tshwane spokesperson Selby Bokaba on Friday urged residents of Region 6 and some parts of regions 2 and 3 to urgently reduce their water consumption after levels at the city’s reservoirs dropped significantly.
“Customers are reminded that Rand Water has kick-started its planned maintenance of infrastructure to improve the network’s reliability and efficiency. The maintenance work will last until Monday and affect the water utility’s Mapleton zystem.
“According to the water utility, no pumping will be taking place from its system for the duration of the work,” he said.
Bokaba said the continuation of high consumption was likely to put consumers in these regions at risk of having no water until the work is completed.
“The high volume of consumption is also putting the city’s distribution network and Rand Water systems under severe pressure,” he said.
Bokaba reminded customers that the water utility will also isolate the Klipriviersberg master reservoir from the Palmiet system for 10 hours next Tuesday.
“This is to allow technicians to clean and conduct an inspection on the reservoir. During this period, pumping will be reduced to 67% at the Palmiet station.
“The city apologises for the inconvenience that may be encountered as a result of the maintenance work,” he said.
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Tips to save water
Bokaba has reminded Tshwane residents to always adhere to the following water conservation measures that include:
- Not watering or irrigation of gardens with hosepipes or sprinkler systems between 6 am and 6 pm;
- No filling of swimming pools;
- Using a dual-flush toilet cistern; and
- Using a broom instead of a hosepipe when cleaning driveways or patios.
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Widespread outage
The water shutdown due to maintenance is also impacting the City of Ekurhuleni, Midvaal, Emfuleni, Govan Mbeki, Victor Khanye and Thembisile Hani municipalities.
Rand Water’s Makenosi Maroo said some progress had already been made since the water utility started critical maintenance on its key infrastructure on Thursday.
“We are pleased to report that the maintenance conducted on its Amanzimtoti pump station has been completed,” she said.
Maroo said Rand Water will continue to update the public during the maintenance period.
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