Save water while reservoirs recover from Eskom outage, Rand Water urges | Fin24

Rand Water is restoring reservoir levels in Gauteng.

• A power supply interruption from one of Eskom’s substations in Gauteng on Sunday impacted water production capacity at Rand Water.
• However, power has since been restored and Rand Water says it is operating at full capacity.
• Some parts of Ekurheleni have reported low water pressure, and consumers are urged to use water sparingly, according to a Rand Water executive.

Power supply from an Eskom substation, which negatively impacted water production in Gauteng, has since been restored.

The power supply interruption, affecting transmission from Snowden substation, was caused by a veld fire on Sunday afternoon. This subsequently impacted Rand Water’s Zuikerbosch Water Treatment Works, reducing its production capacity by 60%, according to a statement from Rand Water.

In a voice note, Eskom Gauteng spokesperson Amanda Qithi said that once the fires subsided, power supply to the Rand Water treatment plant was restored.

Eddie Singo, executive manager at Rand Water, confirmed that the problem with Eskom’s power supply was resolved and that Rand Water started restoring production at the treatment plant on Sunday evening.

However, parts of Ekurheleni have indicated low water pressure, as reservoir levels may have reduced a little, he explained. “As we speak, Rand Water is pumping at full capacity. We are expecting that things should go back to normal; however, that depends on the consumers. I think we should still make a call to consumers to use water sparingly until all the reservoirs recover,” he told Fin24.

Singo also said that at no point had there been no water supply. “The system did not go down… so far, we were able to restore power and restore production before the reservoirs went down.”

For now, Rand Water is working to restore reservoir levels, he said.

Last week, Rand Water put out a separate statement urging consumers to reduce water consumption. It has implemented stage 1 water curtailments to slow down high consumption levels.

On Monday, Singo said the curtailment still stands. Consumers are using more water than municipalities are entitled to, and the curtailment is meant to bring consumption back to licence levels – otherwise the Vaal Dam water levels could start reducing, he said.