Charlotte Maxeke hospital in Parktown, Johannesburg. Picture: Motlabana Monnakgotla
The water supply challenges at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital have been resolved, the Gauteng Department of Health (GDoH) said on Tuesday.
The department said as of 11am on Tuesday, normal water supply to the hospital was restored.
The department revealed that the main reservoir was now 50% full and distributing water to other blocks within the facility.
“The department greatly appreciates the patience and understanding of the public during this period. The department remains committed to working closely with relevant authorities to ensure a reliable and sustainable water supply for all health facilities, thereby supporting uninterrupted healthcare services to the community,” said acting spokesperson Khutso Rabothata.
Earlier on Tuesday, “The Star” reported that due to the water woes, the hospital had diverted all elective surgeries to nearby facilities. The department said that the water shortage was due to changes in the water systems implemented by Johannesburg Water.
The hospital began experiencing low water pressure in the early hours of Monday morning. An investigation by technicians found that Johannesburg Water had cut the water supply to the facility’s bulk water tanks on September 13.
Rabothata said the hospital management had prioritised emergency cases and diverted all elective surgeries to nearby facilities until the water challenges were resolved.
He also apologised for any inconvenience caused by the water challenges experienced at the hospital.
Early on Tuesday, DA Shadow Health MEC Jack Bloom said patients were suffering as the hospital had run out of water.
“Non-emergency surgery has been cancelled, and there is a hygiene crisis in the hospital as cleaning cannot be done and toilets do not work. New patients are not being admitted as the hospital has been placed on the divert list, which puts extra strain on other hospitals,” said Bloom.
He said the disaster had happened even though the hospital had storage tanks for 7 million litres of water, which should have sufficed for several days as it was well above the required minimum storage of 500 litres per bed, amounting to 540 000 litres for its 1 080 beds.
“We need to know whether all the storage tanks were full this weekend when the water supply started to fail. The Johannesburg Council has also been slow to deliver water tankers to the hospital,” Bloom had complained.
He said Johannesburg's water woes are predicted to get worse, so urgent water security measures are needed at all hospitals, including boreholes and increased storage capacity.
Johannesburg Water on Tuesday said it was working around the clock to boost supplies to Charlotte Maxeke Hospital, and areas impacted by Parktown 2 Reservoir challenges.
The entity said its technical teams worked through the night at the hospital, investigating solutions to boost their supply.
“After reconfiguration of the Parktown 2 system, which meant closing the outlet side of the reservoir, water was successfully channelled into Charlotte Maxeke storage to satisfactory levels, enabling the hospital to start pumping into their internal reticulation from this morning,” said Johannesburg Water in a media statement.
The entity said water tankers were deployed since Monday night and into the early hours of Tuesday morning to further assist in filling the hospital’s storage.
“Currently, the Parktown 2 Reservoir is completely closed to build up capacity to supply the hospital, which is impacting the entire zone, thus the supply zone is dry. Once the levels improve, supply will be restored.
“The poor to no supply in the zone is due to the combination of insufficient supply from the bulk supplier and high demand. Johannesburg Water is engaging the bulk supplier to address the root cause of the poor bulk supply,” said the entity.
The entity’s teams were continuing their investigations.
“These investigations require consistent intervention and troubleshooting. The reservoir remains reconfigured to boost incoming supply. However, there is no estimated time of restoration at this stage,” said Johannesburg Water.
Meanwhile, the entity said the Berea Reservoir had declined but was supplying fairly. Poor pressure may occur while supply was reconfigured to boost supply at the Parktown 2 Reservoir.
The entity said it was monitoring and making necessary adjustments to keep the system stable.
It said the Dunkeld Reservoir was critically low to empty. The inlet remained open, but the reservoir was affected by the reconfiguration of the Parktown 2 Reservoir. Poor pressure to no water was expected in the supply zone.
“Johannesburg Water remains resolute to closely monitor all three reservoirs and make immediate necessary adjustments to improve the situation. Alternative water supply continues to be provided,” said the entity.
The Star
ntombi.nkosi@inl.co.za
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