Johannesburg Water’s infrastructure is making steady progress after water supply was affected on Monday 20 March 2023.

This follows the power failure experienced at Rand Water’s Vereeniging Water Treatment Plant in the early hours of Monday morning, which affected pumping capacity at the bulk supplier’s Eikenhof pump station for a few hours.

As a result, Johannesburg suburbs – which are fed by the Commando system (comprising the Brixton, Hursthill and Crosby reservoirs), Waterval, Quellerina, Eagles Nest and Crown Gardens – were left with critically low water pressure to no water. Since then, the Entity’s technical teams have been working consistently to solve the water supply issues, including isolating certain towers and reservoirs to help build capacity in struggling systems.

As at Tuesday morning, 21 March, the following progress has been made:

Commando system

1. The Crosby reservoir is 0.4m full and inflows are at 526 litres of water per second, compared to 469 litres per second on Monday. The inlet was closed overnight to help improve water levels to the Brixton zone.
2. The Brixton reservoir is 1.86m full compared to Monday’s 1.04m, and the tower is sitting at 1.36m full. This is an improvement since Monday and a step in the right direction insofar as the strategy implemented to close the Crosby reservoir to improve inflows into Brixton. Today, 193 litres per second are pumping into the reservoir compared to Monday’s 123 litres per second. The technical teams are now building capacity into the tower now that sufficient capacity in the reservoir has been achieved.
3. The Hursthill 1 reservoir is at 0.61m, compared to Monday’s 0.41m, while Hursthill 2 is at 0.5m, a considerable improvement as the reservoir was empty on Monday. However, these are still at critically low levels and Johannesburg Water teams are working round the clock to improve water supply.

The Crown Gardens reservoir water levels are making progress with today’s measurements sitting at 2.26m, compared to yesterday’s 1.34m. Tower 1 is still full at over 4.42m and tower 2 is at 4.3m, meaning there is consistency with pumping at the reservoir. It is currently open at 50% capacity.

The Eagles Nest reservoir 1 is 1.61m full, compared to Monday’s 0.37m, and reservoir 2 is 1.22m full, which is an improvement from yesterday when it was empty. The Waterval tower has recovered at 6.17m, while Quellerina is sitting at 2.82m.

Johannesburg Water customers are still affected by low water pressure to no water in some areas. Alternative water supply to critical areas has been provided by Johannesburg Water. Helen Joseph Hospital tanks are full but have a pumping truck on the ground to pump directly to the hospital’s tank.

 

There are nine stationary water tanks in the below areas:

• Crosby – 1x tank at the Crosby clinic
• Brixton – 1x tank at 1 Rus Road
• Brixton – 2x tanks at the Brixton Recreation Centre
• Coronationville – 1x tank at the Coronation Recreation Centre
• Coronationville – 1x tank at the Slovo Informal Settlement
• Westdene – 1x tank at the Engen Garage
• Melville – 1x tank at corner First Avenue and Main Road
• Melville – 1x tank at corner Seventh Street and Second Avenue

 

Seven roaming water tankers in the following areas:

• Robertsham
• Westbury
• Coronationville
• Newclare
• Jan Hofmeyer
• Mayfair West
• Crosby
• Westdene
• Crown Gardens
• Evans Park

 

 

Issued by: Johannesburg Water Marketing and Communication.

For further enquiries:

Nolwazi Dhlamini

External Communication Officer

Email: nolwazi.dhlamini@jwater.co.za

Cell: 078 606 5665

Tel: 011 688 6627