Johannesburg Water said on Thursday its systems were slowly recovering after a major outage at Rand Water’s Eikenhof pump station, but some suburbs were still without water after nearly week.
The entity said it expected that a complete recovery of the water supply would take several days to a week. Some Johannesburg suburbs still had dry taps on Thursday.
Suburbs across Johannesburg were left without water after the Eikenhof pump station was struck by lightning on Sunday, according to the utility.
City Power repaired the feeder boards on Monday.
The utility said the bulk supplier’s systems were interconnected and flexible to support one another, which assisted in the recovery of all systems. The entity said it would prioritise the prompt isolation and repair of bursts and leaks.
“Customers are requested to repair leaks on their properties as these also contribute to the high demand on Johannesburg Water systems,” the utility said.
“Residents are requested to observe level 1 water restrictions, which are implemented from September 1 to March 31. These prohibit the use of hosepipes to water gardens, wash cars, clean driveways, as well as fill up swimming pools and water features between 6am and 6pm. Instead, the use of greywater is encouraged.”
One of the worst affected areas was Constantia Kloof. Councillor Leah Knott said residents in the ward had not had water for the entire week. “They ran out almost immediately [when there are outages] and they are one of the last areas to get water back.”
On Thursday morning, Constantia Kloof primary school sent a notice to parents to collect their children. “They were getting parents to bring water in the mornings but it was running out by lunchtime.”