Cape Town water outages: These areas will be affected this week

Scheduled maintenance on water supply infrastructure in certain Cape Town areas will lead to water supply disruptions this week, as announced by the City’s water and sanitation department. 

Residents are advised to prepare for potential inconveniences during this period.

PLANNED WATER DISRUPTIONS IN CAPE TOWN

The City of Cape Town’s water and sanitation department has informed residents that several areas will undergo water supply disruptions this week due to scheduled maintenance on the water supply infrastructure.

According to Cape Town etc, residents in the impacted areas are urged to anticipate possible water supply interruptions and are advised to make arrangements for alternative water sources during this period.

The following areas will be affected:

Joe Slovo, Phoenix and Centurion Business Park (Milnerton) 

• Tuesday, 30 April, from 10am until 4pm

Witsands, Saxonworld, Three Fountains and Farm Areas (Atlantis) 

• Monday, 29 April, from 8am until 4pm

Blackheath Water Treatment Plant

• Thursday, 2 May, from 6am until 8pm on Friday, 3 May

The water and sanitation directorate has stated that residents in the affected areas may encounter low water pressure or complete water loss from their taps during this period.

 They noted that specific streets or areas experiencing disruptions cannot be accurately predicted.

The directorate will address a leak in the main water supply pipeline servicing these areas. Water tankers will be deployed to provide domestic-use water, with their locations communicated through the local ward councillor and the City’s alerts account on X.

The Blackheath Water Treatment Plant will undergo shutdown for the installation of penstocks.

 These penstocks are essential for shutting off and redirecting flow during maintenance. 

Consequently, water supply to the Glen Garry and Newlands reservoirs will be affected.

The City has meticulously planned this work to minimise disruption to the water supply.

CAPE TOWN PREPARES FOR MAJOR ELECTRICITY GRID OVERHAUL WITH 4 BILLION INVESTMENT

Cape Town’s Mayor, Geordin Hill-Lewis, has presented a draft budget amounting to R76.4 billion for the city’s 2024/2025 financial year. This budget includes a significant infrastructure investment of R12.1 billion for the coming year and a substantial commitment of nearly R40 billion over the following three years.

Hill-Lewis emphasises the city’s focus on strengthening its infrastructure: “Our goal is to enhance the efficiency of Cape Town through unprecedented investments in its infrastructure, as the well-being of its residents is closely linked to the city’s prosperity.”

According to Infrastructure News, for three years, the city intends to dedicate R722 million to procure independent power and R4 billion to enhance the electrical grid, enabling it to adapt to a flexible and decentralized energy environment.

Furthermore, Cape Town focuses on enhancing its service delivery resilience against load shedding by allocating R680 million over three years. 

This investment will involve improving energy efficiency in municipal buildings, introducing small-scale embedded generation at city facilities, and setting up a solar photovoltaic plant in Atlantis, among other strategic endeavours.

Cape Town’s recent annual Infrastructure Report affirms that the city’s ambitious R120 billion ten-year project pipeline is progressing as planned, positioning it ahead of other towns regarding infrastructure investments. 

Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis unveiled the report at the City Council Chambers on 14 February.

Reported by Cape Chamber, based on the 2023/2024 capital budgets for South Africa’s metros, Cape Town is set to outpace Johannesburg and Durban’s combined infrastructure investment over the next three years (2023/2024 – 2025/2026).

Cape Town leads in infrastructure spending with a capital budget 91.2% larger than Johannesburg (R43.2 billion vs R22.6 billion) and 116.9% more prominent than eThekwini (R19.9 billion).