• Residents in Johannesburg have been struggling with little to no access to water over the past few days.
• Johannesburg Water cites issues at a handful of reservoirs that is impacting several suburbs.
• Rand Water says municipalities must reduce consumption to “boost storage”.

Johannesburg residents have felt high and dry over the past few days owing to little to no access to water from their taps.

The issues started last week Thursday, 12th September, when a number of suburbs in the area where either affected by burst pipes, planned maintenance, or increased demand putting additional strain on reservoirs.

The culmination of these events have since resulted in some suburbs still struggling to access water, and being forced to look for water tankers where available in order to handle basic ablution and waste disposal.

In its latest communication shared on X (formerly Twitter), Johannesburg Water explained that ongoing issues at its Parktown 2, Dunked, and Berea reservoirs were to blame.

So much so that Charlotte Maxeke Hospital has been impacted, and in some cases has had to divert patients to other institutions due to concerns over being able to handle any influx and the strain it would place on its depleted water reserves.

“After reconfiguration of the Parktown 2 system, which meant closing the outlet side of the reservoir, water was successfully channeled into Charlotte Maxeke storage to satisfactory levels, enabling the hospital to start pumping into their internal reticulation from this morning. Furthermore, water tankers were deployed since last night and into the early hours of this morning to further assist in filling the hospital’s storage,” Johannesburg Water communicated this morning.

“Johannesburg Water remains resolute to closely monitoring all three reservoirs and making immediate necessary adjustments to improve the situation. Alternative water supply continues to be provided,” it added.

While the updates are proving useful to some, many residents messaging Johannesburg Water’s X account are often greeted with the same reply:

“Good day, the poor to no supply in the zone is due to the combination of insufficient supply from the bulk supplier and high demand. Johannesburg Water is engaging the bulk supplier to address the root cause of the poor bulk supply.”

As such, many residents are still without tangible answers to their water woes, with some now heading to a full week with proper access to water.

With Johannesburg Water seemingly offering little in terms of information on a return to service, or indeed when residents can expect water to begin flowing again, Rand Water took a more aggressive tactic with its communications.

To that end, it highlighted supply and demand in a graph on X, and then called for residents and municipalities to use less water. “Therefore, Metros must reduce consumption in order to boost storage and avert a supply interruption possibility,” it added in follow up posts.

With service providers threatening that a water crisis is looming in Johannesburg, for many residents, a crisis is already at hand. As alternative water supplies dry up over the coming hours and days, the city is at a tipping point, and some may not be happy to only complain or ask for answers on social media alone.

As temperatures continue to rise, the lack of tangible communications is highly concerning, especially with some venues and infrastructure having to close their doors to visitors as a result, such as the Johannesburg Zoo.

[Image – Photo by Luis Tosta on Unsplash]