Rand Water limits flow in order to avoid complete system collapse

Gauteng residents can expect intermittent water supply from Friday evening as Rand Water reduces flow to avoid emptying reservoirs and a complete system collapse.

“This measure will ensure that Rand Water takes full control of water supply and no longer relies on the consumers to reduce consumption.”

It said intermittent water supply may be expected in many areas within the Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni, Tshwane, Rand West, Mogale City and Rustenburg Municipalities.

“To avoid intermittent water supply, consumers must reduce their consumption. We recommend that municipalities impose water restrictions through their bylaws and effectively police their implementation.”

Spokesperson Makenosi Maroo said the measure would help prevent a “complete system crash” and stabilise emptying reservoirs.

“Since the beginning of Spring, Rand Water’s bulk water provision to municipalities has increased from an average of 4 300 million litres of water to 4 900 million litres of water a day,” said Maroo, adding that Rand Water supplies the resource to nearly 17 million people across all municipalities.

She said current consumption was 300 litres per person, almost double the amount compared to the global average.

There are about 17 million people in the municipalities it supplies water to.

Maroo attributed the low water supply to high consumption, which has persisted despite stage 2, or 30% water restrictions, implemented due to the decline in reservoir storage from 52% to 38%.

To safeguard the integrity of the system and to ensure continued water supply, it sad it had earlier imposed a water supply reduction of 30% to ensure there was enough water in the reservoirs to mitigate, among others, intermittent supply.

“Despite this, water consumption continues to rise, and reservoirs’ levels continue to decrease because of even high-water usage.

“To stabilise and avoid the emptying of the reservoirs and complete system crash, Rand Water will further apply the flow control management of its reservoirs.”