By Naadiya Adams

Joburg residents are in a state of pandemonium as they set to bear the brunt of a three-day water outage across the city. Reservoirs in the Johannesburg and surrounding region are running low due to people stockpiling water.

Rand Water has requested not to stockpile or overfill water as this will put more pressure on the water supply.

Rand Water has urged Gauteng residents not to fill up bottles in preparation for this week’s 54-hour water disruption.

Rand Water expects water pressure to be affected in eight municipalities, which will mostly affect Gauteng.

Joburg Water communications officer Eleanor Mavimbela said in an interview with Radio Islam that maintenance is necessary.

“We got a notification from Rand Water that they will be shutting down the water supply to do maintenance on their pipework,” explained Mavimbela.

The scheduled maintenance is set to disrupt the supply flowing from the Eikenhof pump which feeds a vast number of areas in Johannesburg.

With much of the city ready to have no water for the next 54 hours, it may be very inconvenient for those affected.

“The nature of the work is going to take several hours to complete given the size of the pipe as well as the magnitude of work that needs to be done. Because of the size of the pipe the draining of the water before they even start will take a couple of hours,” said Mavimbela.

Affected areas will include the South, North, and the western regions of Joburg, Soweto as well as Johannesburg CBD.

Rand Water has further advised that there will be water over the 54 hours but at a lower pressure, They have requested to use water sparingly during, and immediately before and after the 54 hour maintenance period.

If there is no water for a prolonged time, Johannesburg Water will make alternative water arrangements.

Mavimabela explained that the maintenance has been a long time coming and is necessary for the long-term maintenance of the city’s water supply.