Chaos in Joburg as residents experience load shedding, water outages
Johannesburg Water plans to address the protracted water infrastructure vulnerabilities affecting the Hursthill, Brixton and Crosby reservoirs and towers. File Picture
Johannesburg - Chaos reigns in Joburg as residents are not only being subjected to load shedding but also enduring electricity and water outages, with many councillors reporting the largest number of complaints in years.
City Power and Rand Water are convening a number of meetings to find solutions.
City Power chief executive Mongezi Ntsokolo said a meeting had been urgently convened by executives and depot managers to find solutions to the outages across Joburg.
The meeting follows the increase in outcries and concerns about outages, some of which have taken over five days to resolve.
The management, he said, also focused on the backlogs, including Region G which is serviced by the Lenasia depot.
“While the backlogs are primarily due to the blockade of our depot in the past two weeks which prevented the team there from rendering services, there are also fundamental issues that need to be addressed, which include capacity issues and the vast area covered by a single depot,” Ntsokolo said.
Environment and Infrastructure Services MMC Mpho Moerane has welcomed these interventions.
“The increase in capacity of contractors, and the internal technicians will assist in reducing the backlogs and ensure a quick turnaround to outage calls,” Moerane said.
He also unveiled plans aimed at addressing the water challenges.
Over the next 48 months, Johannesburg Water plans to address the protracted water infrastructure vulnerabilities affecting the Hursthill, Brixton and Crosby reservoirs and towers.
There are plans for a new connection from Rand Water to supplement water supply to the Crosby Reservoir, a new booster pump station and associated pipe work in Hursthill and the construction of a new reservoir and tower in Brixton.
“To realise these objectives, the City plans to invest over R330 million in support of Johannesburg Water’s short- and long-term plans to build a more resilient water infrastructure for Brixton, Hursthill and Crosby reservoirs and towers.
Rand Water and Johannesburg Water had made operational changes with a positive effect in increasing water flow.
The Star