Too broke for tankers, now a 19-day water shutdown looms in Gauteng | News24

Nineteen days of maintenance in Gauteng could result in widespread water outages at the end of the month.

• Rand Water and Eskom will conduct 19 days of electrical maintenance.
• The planned disruptions come just one day after Johannesburg Water suspended all water tanker services due to unpaid bills.
• The DA accused the City of Johannesburg of using water outages to justify emergency procurement of water tankers.

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One day after Johannesburg Water suspended all tanker services because it couldn’t pay suppliers, Rand Water announced 19 days of planned maintenance that will cause water outages across Gauteng.

From 29 May to 17 July, Eskom and Rand Water will switch off pumps at the Palmiet and Zuikerbosch stations to repair critical electrical infrastructure.

According to Rand Water, the maintenance is necessary to improve pump availability and standby capacity, and to enhance infrastructure flexibility, thereby reducing the risk of plant trips and equipment failures.

“During this period, Rand Water will need to switch off some of its pumps, and this will result in water supply interruptions,” it stated on Friday.

The 19-day maintenance will affect customers in Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni, as well as the local municipalities of Mogale City, Rand West, Merafong, Rustenburg, Madibeng, Lesedi, Victor Khanye, Govan Mbeki, Thembisile Hani, Midvaal, Emfuleni, Metsimaholo, Ngwathe and Royal Bafokeng Administration.

Various industries, mines and direct customers, including the Airports Company South Africa, may also be affected.

This comes in the wake of widespread outages across the big metros supplied by the bulk water supplier.

According to Rand Water, the maintenance timing is strategic for winter, which “is traditionally a low-water-demand period”.

Rand Water will use this opportunity to carry out its own planned maintenance work.

The key maintenance activities scheduled from 29 May to 17 July are:

Rand Water issued the statement 21 days before the maintenance to give its customers time for contingency measures and to “minimise potential water supply disruptions to consumers”.

Meanwhile, on Friday, the DA’s Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku said the party believed Johannesburg Water was increasingly using water outages and upcoming Rand Water maintenance work to justify the procurement of emergency water tankers.

She said this created the perfect environment for “politically connected service providers to benefit while residents are left without water”.

“For years, the City failed to maintain pipelines, reservoirs and pump stations, choosing instead to rely on expensive tanker contracts rather than fixing infrastructure,” she said.

On Thursday, News24 revealed that Johannesburg Water was unable to provide water tankers because it had failed to pay its service providers.

READ | Joburg logic: Not broke, but can’t pay for water tankers

In a statement to councillors on Thursday, the entity warned residents that the day-to-day deployment of water tankers to informal settlements, as well as the provision of tankers on an emergency basis, would be suspended while it resolves outstanding financial payments.

Said Kayser-Echeozonjoku: “Residents are once again paying the price for coalition instability, financial mismanagement and governance failure in the City of Johannesburg.”

The DA has called for an audit into water tanker contracts, the number of JoJo tanks owned or leased by the City, emergency procurement linked to water outages, the cost of the water tanker services, and consequence management for governance and financial failures.

“Serious questions must be asked about whether emergency procurement is being used to channel work to preferred contractors during water crises,” Kayser-Echeozonjoku said.