Residents in parts of Gauteng were continuing to experience large-scale water outages for almost three weeks, with little reprieve from bulk water supplier Rand Water.
FILE: Rand Water was battling to meet the ever-growing demand of Gauteng’s consumers.Picture: Michal Jarmoluk/Pixabay.com
JOHANNESBURG – Residents in the west of Johannesburg complained that despite paying rates and taxes, there was little effort to correct the water situation in their areas.
Parts of Gauteng were still experiencing large-scale water outages due to multiple reasons, including maintenance work, power failure and vandalism.
As a result, many residents across the city experienced dry taps, as water levels remained low.
Hundreds of families in areas including Brixton, Sophiatown and Westdene had to rely on water tankers and bottled water for close to three weeks.
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This came as Rand Water battled to meet the ever-growing demand from Gauteng’s consumers.
Rand Water had been advised for more than a decade that its water supply infrastructure was inadequate.
In this regards, residents said that municipalities could longer keep getting caught off guard.
“We have to pay for the water, we have to pay for the electricity, but at the end of the day we’re not getting any of those,” said one resident.
“We can’t bath, now, we can’t cook, we can’t do anything – it’s a problem,” lamented another.
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Some Johannesburg residents opened their taps on Tuesday morning hoping that the worst was over after weeks of interrupted supply, only to find that there was, in fact, still no water.
“The meat gets spoiled, our fridges are not working, that’s too much for us. This is not what we voted for.”
Rand Water’s Makenosi Maroo said that while water was being pumped into reservoirs, it appeared residents were using it faster than they could refill.
The bulk water supplier said it was difficult to estimate how long it would take before reservoirs were fully replenished.
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