Pretoria - Tshwane residents are still at risk of a water outage with reports that reservoirs servicing Pretoria east are the worst affected by the serious restriction of water supply to the city from Rand Water.
City spokesperson Selby Bokaba said there was no overnight supply from the water utility to the Garsfontein reservoir, and as a result, the reservoir level dropped to 23%.
“The City has requested the water utility to channel more water to the reservoir. Elardus Park reservoir is at 53%, which is comforting, while Mooikloof has slightly improved overnight from 16% to 21% this (yesterday) morning. At this stage, Grootfontein reservoir is battling to recover – it is at 2.8%.”
He said the water utility’s Bronberg reservoir that supplied Lombardy, Shere AH, Silver Lakes and parts of Mamelodi East improved overnight, and was at 40%.
“Residents confirmed that they are receiving water this (yesterday) morning. Some started receiving water on Saturday night. Parkmore HL and LL reservoirs that supply Menlyn, Lynnwood Manor, Garsfontein and Faerie Glen are safe at 65% and 94%, respectively.
“In the west, The Heights reservoirs, the city’s holding reservoirs, are full at 96%. Laudium and Atteridgeville HL reservoirs, which started showing signs of recovery last night, have regrettably regressed. Currently, the Atteridgeville HL is empty again, while the Laudium reservoir is at 13% and Lotus Gardens reservoir at 29%,” Bokaba said.
Magaliesberg/Rosslyn reservoirs, which supply the Pretoria North and Rosslyn areas, are adequate at 40%, sufficient for residents’ needs for today.
“Soshanguve reservoirs are still struggling at 20%. The City has dispatched water tankers in areas with outages. All these water challenges point to water demand which outstrips supply.”
MMC for Utilities and Regional Operations Daryl Johnston said Eskom’s implementation of stage 5 load shedding posed serious challenges to water supply which needed power to pump water to reservoirs.
Stressing the knock-on challenges due to load shedding, he said: “Extensive load shedding is affecting the pumping of water, which may result in water outages affecting our city, particularly in high-lying areas.”
Rand Water has already restricted the water flow from to reservoirs to the City of Tshwane by up to 40%.
Johnston said: “This is a large amount of our daily requirement. Our teams are working extensively to limit any potential outages.”
He said much of the City’s water and sanitation reticulation systems relied on electricity. “Our water treatment works and pump stations need electricity to operate. Our reservoirs rely on continuous flow to maintain levels and be prepared for outages. That continuous flow relies on pump stations operating.”
Johnston called on residents to use water sparingly with shorter showers, turning off water features, limiting water use for washing cars and buildings, delaying filling pools and avoiding any other high water usage.
“The City is working closely with Rand Water to manage water outages caused by high water consumption, load shedding and water restrictions.This exceptionally high level of restriction means we all need to work together to prevent city areas from running dry.”
Pretoria News