Over 54 hours next week, Rand Water will take 600 megalitres of water out of the system that supplies Gauteng — enough to fill about 9,000 swimming pools.
But while utility-battered residents will curse yet another service outage, the shutdown, due to start on Monday at 5am, is actually good news. It will allow Rand Water to bring a new pipe online that will not only increase the amount of water that can be drawn from the Vaal River into the treatment plant, but increase the volume of the old pipes that supply local municipalities. It will provide the extra flexibility needed during future shutdowns and maintenance and will ensure that all the city’s water needs are met well past 2040.
This is according to water engineer Eddie Singo, executive manager of Rand Water’s Zuikerbosch water treatment plant in the Vaal region, where the 54-hour shutdown will be taking place. Singo has been a technician in the industry for 20 years and is one of the few who understand the job ahead. And he is the lone figure in charge of the entire operation, meaning he will be on site the entire time.
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Ratepayers in eight municipalities across Gauteng — including the City of Johannesburg, the West Rand, Mogale City, Merafong, Rustenburg, Madibeng, Metsimaholo and Emfuleni — will be affected while the work is being carried out.
Professor Anthony Turton of the Centre for Environmental Management at the University of the Free State, described the organisation as “the biggest bulk water supplier in the entire world — or the southern hemisphere at the very least”.
He believes the shutdown is indicative of a well-run operation that is upgrading and improving its capacity. The problem, he says, comes when Rand Water passes potable water on to municipalities that are responsible for supplying the end consumer.
“Over the years there has been corruption, a lack of maintenance, pipe bursts and water leaks — all of which have impacted negatively on the capacity of a system that should ideally be able to continue operating for a while without input,” he said, adding that few areas have enough storage capacity to run without input for 48 hours.
Singo is not concerned about the outage, and believes consumers will manage well if they are prepared and ready to reduce their consumption to the absolute minimum for a few days. Municipalities were given 21 days’ warning and residents have been warned to stock up.
“The best-case scenario is just low water pressure in the worst-hit areas, and the worst is that high-lying and high-demand areas will run out of water. But the municipalities should be prepared for that and have their static tanks and mobile water tankers all ready to respond,” Singo said.
It’s usually better to do major maintenance like this, in a planned fashion, rather than wait until the infrastructure fails
— Mike Muller, chair of the technical committee at the Water Institute of Southern Africa
Gillian Maree, a senior researcher at the Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO), who has studied Gauteng’s water security, said because the province is does not have its own water, it relies on water being pumped from as far as Lesotho through the integrated Vaal River system.
“Our water security is dependent on the ability of Rand Water to manage the infrastructure. We only really know that something is wrong when we open the taps at home and no water comes out.”
The GCRO’s recently published report on quality of life found that there has been a general increase in reported water interruptions and increased dissatisfaction with water services.
In the City of Johannesburg, where ratepayers are charged almost R1,000 a month just to be connected to the water network, 55,863 pipe bursts were reported just in the 2020/2021 period, according to Joburg Water.
Mike Muller, chair of the technical committee at the Water Institute of Southern Africa, agreed that this week’s shutdown is necessary.
“It’s usually better to do major maintenance like this, in a planned fashion, rather than wait until the infrastructure fails,” he said.
But Turton cautioned that if not managed well, the shutdown could lead to catastrophic consequences down the line.
“A number of things can happen when water flow is cut off. If people don’t put water in the cistern before flushing, toilets rapidly get backed up,” he said.
He advises those with swimming pools to use that water to keep their toilets flushed, and for those with baths to run a full one and use that as their temporary supply.
But even when the maintenance work is done and the new pipe comes online, it will take time for water to get flowing again and supplies to be restored.
Johannesburg Water spokesperson Eleanor Mavimbela said that to manage the shutdown, the Rand Water Eikenhof pump station — which supplies water to the south of Johannesburg and northern and western areas — will be reduced by 25%. The water supply from the Rand Water Zwartkoppies system to the CBD will be reduced by 50%.
“Stationary and roaming water tankers will be made available, where feasible, to reduce the impact to consumers,” she said, appealing to residents to use water sparingly to minimise the effects of the interruption.
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