Joburg - On Tuesday, the City of Joburg mayor Sello Dada Morero together with the managing director and chief executives of Joburg Water and City Power updated the media on the proposed interventions to address water challenges experienced in some parts of the City.
The managing director for Joburg Water, Ntshavheni Mukwevho, explained that on September 23, Rand Water experienced a power failure at its Vereeniging water works which resulted in a 50% reduction in bulk water supply to its Eikenhof pump station.
Mukwevho said this failure happened in the early hours of the morning and was resolved at midday on the same day.
Since the Eikenhof system, especially the supply to Commando Road is vulnerable, there was a negative impact on the Crosby, Brixton and Hurst Hill Supply zones in that the city experienced water supply interruptions to the high-lying areas. However, after the issue was resolved on September 23, the system started to recover but for it to recover fully, it takes about four to five days.
Mukwevho further explained that on September 25 just after midnight there was a total power failure at the Rand Water Vereeniging works. This failure was resolved after six hours by Rand Water.
Rand Water said on September 29 it experienced a pump trip at its Eikenhof system for about three hours, which reduced the pump station capacity by 40%. Again, the Commando system was negatively affected as it was already vulnerable due to previous incidents. Thus, again the gains made were negatively affected.
On September 30 in the early hours of the morning, Rand Water had a power supply issue to its Zuikerbosch purification works, which again had a 60% impact on the supply to Eikenhof for about five to six hours.
On October 3 in the evening, Rand Water took 200 Ml/day supply from the Eikenhof system to boost its Palmiet system, which was at a critical stage. This load shift basically affected its Commando Road supply metre and some of the reservoirs in the south of Joburg. The impact was that all the gains made to stabilise the system following the September 30 incident were lost.
Mukwevho said an agreement was reached during the meeting with the minister that the Commando supply will be prioritised.
He said as of Tuesday morning, with the bulk supplier having supplied the required volumes for this area, the entity had started seeing signs of improvement.
“Furthermore, Johannesburg Water will in the next three years invest R340 million to expand the Commando system’s scope and infrastructure to ensure continuous water supply to the residents of the City of Joburg. We are currently working with all relevant stakeholders, including Rand Water and City Power to minimise the impact of the recent challenges,” the city said.
City Power chief executive Tshifularo Mashava said Eikenhof Sub-station, which supplies Rand Water, was currently supplied power by City Power from the bulk station in Fordsburg via a switching station in Orlando. It is inside the Rand Water premises to ensure City Power has a dedicated supply to the entity.
She said short-term maintenance of Orlando switching station and Eikenhof was done to ensure optimal functioning of the network. There are also plans to expedite the completion of the Mondeor project (currently at 90%) to ensure we have alternative Bulk supply to Eikenhof Sub-station from another Eskom bill intake – Prospect Sub-station.
Mashava said City Power was working with Joburg Water to ensure the supply of water was not interrupted.
“One of the things we are looking at is to see how to exclude them from load shedding. The problem currently is that most of Joburg Water facilities are embedded within our network, making it difficult to exempt them. We are also looking at partnering with them on the off-grid solutions,” she said
Mayor Morero urged residents and businesses in Joburg to work with the City to reduce water wastage.
He said there were other innovative ways to avoid wasting clean fresh water. These can include rainwater harvesting and boreholes. He said the City was looking into going to the market to raise capital to replenish the ageing infrastructure.
The Star