The City of Johannesburg will provide 18 water tankers to areas affected by the water shedding, it said on Thursday.
Earlier this week, the water utility battled to recover from a pump failure at Rand Water’s Eikenhof pump station. However, Rand Water said it has since fixed an air valve that was vandalised on Wednesday.
The Yeoville reservoir pump started working on Thursday after pumps had levelled water to 5.73m. The reservoir currently has two pumps supplying water, which is expected to improve by Friday.
Two hospitals in the city were affected by the water shedding, but the Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital, which was in the news for all the bad reasons last week, was functioning normally. Helen Joseph hospital also had a 75% water supply capacity.
Rand Water has since said most of the affected areas across the city are now showing signs of improvement.
On Sunday, the Water and Sanitation Department spoke to Sunday World about the country’s water challenges, saying it hopes to tackle the prevailing challenges.
Andile Tshona, spokesperson for the department, said: “There are different reasons why certain areas are left without water due to various issues within the municipal systems.
“The dams remain full in most parts of the country, however, the malfunctioning of water infrastructure at municipal level remains a major concern for the department.
“However, through Minister Senzo Mchunu’s interventions, the department continues to assist the affected municipalities with technical skills where necessary.”
Tshona commended the work that the minister has been doing to tackle the problem.
“On 13 and 14 March, Minister Mchunu met with all the municipalities to try to resolve all the bottlenecks and implored government at all levels to take responsibility for their own challenges,” said Tshona.
“The minister has urged for better working relationships between municipalities and Rand Water as an entity abstracting water from the dam.
“Rand Water needs to communicate better with municipalities, and municipalities need to communicate better with residents and water users.”
Tshona added that as a result of water challenges, South Africa now ranks among the driest nations across the world.
“South Africa remains a water-scarce country, therefore, it is everyone’s responsibility to ensure that we don’t run out of water.”
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