Gauteng Residents Urged Not to Stock Water: Don’t Panic!

Rand Water has urged residents in Johannesburg not to stock water as a maintenance operation gets underway in the city.

The water utility is installing a new valve on the line running from Lethabo to the Vereeniging pumping station. Water supply is expected to be interrupted for 54 hours which started on Monday morning.

Rand Water spokesperson Justice Mohale assured residents that water will be available as the Vereeniging purification plant will be the only plant affected by the maintenance work.

“People should not panic because we are going to be purifying water from Zuikerbosch plant as normal. There will be water, we don’t encourage people to stock water because that will drain the system and create problems for us,” Mohale said.

Mohale said that during the maintenance operation, the utility will be connecting a 2500mm of a valve, between the B19 and B11 pipeline.

“We are talking of a massive pipeline here and we do not want to underestimate the work that is before us. After we have done the work we have to test if everything is okay because we don’t want to make any mistakes,” Mohale said.

The areas affected by maintenance include the City of Johannesburg, Mogale City, Merafong, Emfuleni and Rustenburg.

Johannesburg Water has also appealed to all residents of the City of Johannesburg not to panic and continue to use water sparingly during the shutdown in order to avoid a complete no-water situation.

The city also reminded residents that the level 1 water restrictions are still in place.

Source:  SAnews.gov.za