Gauteng’s hot weather to continue until Sunday

The Vaal Dam, situated on the border of Gauteng and the Free State, is the main source of fresh water to Gauteng. Picture: Dumisani Sibeko

The Vaal Dam, situated on the border of Gauteng and the Free State, is the main source of fresh water to Gauteng. Picture: Dumisani Sibeko

Published Oct 6, 2016

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Johannesburg - Gauteng won’t experience cooler temperatures until Sunday, the South African Weather Service has said.

Forecaster Victoria Nurse said the northern and southern parts of the province would be hot and warm.

“There is definitely no heat wave in Gauteng,” she said on Wednesday.

On Thursday, the mercury was expected to rise to 31°C in Joburg, with minimum temperatures of 9°C in Joburg. Similar patterns were expected in other parts of the province, including Pretoria and Vereeniging, until Sunday

“We are going to see a dropping of temperatures over Gauteng on Sunday when Joburg will see a maximum of 24°C and a minimum of 10°C,” said Nurse.

But the weather service warned of extremely high fire danger conditions over the Northern Cape, the adjacent interior, central and little Karoo in the Western Cape, the western half of the Eastern Cape and the western half of North-West.

The high temperatures come as Gauteng and parts of the country are experiencing water restrictions.

It emerged this week that Joburg residents were only reaching a 3.5 percent in water savings since the introduction of level-2 restrictions imposed in September. This is far from the 15 percent requested by the Department of Water and Sanitation. The Joburg metro police department has issued a total of 139 notices, 41 citations and 52 fines to residents found not adhering to these restrictions. Many of these offences were picked up after tip-offs by community members.

Johannesburg Water has since then been receiving 15 percent less water from its bulk supplier, Rand Water. Reservoir levels across the city were stable after the 15 percent restriction on their inflows and it had not experienced any problems with storage so far, said spokesperson Tidimalo Chuene. “Dam levels are still very low at our source and it is, therefore, important for all consumers to remain considerate of the current water restrictions.

“We thank all residents and visitors to the city who have heeded the call to save water. However, we need to do more to avert a looming water-supply shortage,” said Chuene.

Consumers are urged to continue reporting non-compliance by phoning the JMPD 24/7 line at 011 758 9650.

Residents are encouraged to subscribe to the utility’s SMS notification service for alerts on planned or unplanned service interruptions.

* More information and water-saving tips can be found on Johannesburg Water’s website: www.johannesburgwater.co.za and social media platforms Twitter: @jhbwater and Facebook: Johannesburg Water.

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